HEADS UP: Chilly Start to Another Month of GCQ, MGCQ (Feb. 1)

Here's a Heads Up from Reportr.World on news that you need to know today, Feb. 1:

• It's another month of GCQ for Metro Manila, Batangas, Tacloban City, Davao City, Davao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and Iligan City. The rest of the country is under MGCQ save for areas under granular lockdowns.
• The new set of requirements for arriving international passengers also take effect today.
• This week will be extra chilly due to a surge in the northeast monsoon or Amihan. The forecast is down to 10 degrees Celsius in Baguio City.
• What's trending over the weekend? "Hurt" and her home tour for Orocan. Even Heart Evangelista took notice of the latest commercial from GIGIL, the same guys behind the RC Cola ad.
• Chinese New Year Festivities in Manila, home to the world's oldest Chinatown, is cancelled due to COVID-19, said Mayor Isko Moreno who also promised to get the COVID vaccine in public to ease people's worries.
• The CBCP has offered churches across the country as COVID vaccination sites.
• File under fake news. Robinsons Malls said it would NOT close down, contrary to an online report.
• Monde Nissin, the maker of Lucky Me! noodles is considering listing in the stock market. How much is it worth?
• Here's an updated list of banks that waived transfer fees this year.
• COVID can reduce the quality of sperm, according to a German study.
• Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio reactivated her Instagram account as some posters urging her to run for president in 2022 circulated over the weekend.
• Comelec said COVID frontliners would be given special lanes for voter registration.
• Netflix called it: Bridgerton is its biggest new series ever.
• In Mexico, the Sto. Nino is getting dressed in face masks and frontliner gear to raise awareness on the pandemic. The devotion to the Baby Jesus is familiar to Filipinos.
• The Philippine Air Force received one of two new C-130 cargo planes from the U.S. The "Hercules" aircraft is the military's workhorse both in combat and disaster relief.
• KC Concepcion said she was sorry for taking off her mask during the birthday party of eventologist Tim Yap. Photos of the party in Baguio City went viral and drove Mayor Benjamin Magalong to tender his irrevocable resignation as contact-tracing czar. The Palace rejected it.
• Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo has advised the family of flight attendant Christine Dacera to heed a police crime lab report that she died of natural causes.

Here's an update on COVID-19 cases as of 4 p.m. of Jan. 31: