HEADS UP: Will ECQ Season 2 Be Extended? (March 30)

Here's a Heads Up from Reportr.World on news that you need to know today, March 30:

COVID TOP STORIES

• Will the ECQ be extended? It's under study and the DOH, citing experts, said a lockdown until April 18 instead of April 4 will be more effective against the surge.
• While the ECQ in NCR Plus is under review, quarantine classifications for the rest of the country in April were released.
• New cases topped 10,000 for the first time yesterday, according to DOH data.
• Trying to wrap your head around the numbers? Visualize this: if COVID patients were sports fans, Yesterday's haul would fill up PhilSports Arena minus the social distancing.
• Those affected by the ECQ will get ayuda from the government, up to P1,000 per person of P4,000 per family, all in-kind.
• Lockdowns have proven to be ineffective without testing and tracing and the country now is "far worse" than last year, said the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
• President Rodrigo Duterte received one million Sinovac vaccine doses, the first of the procured jabs to arrive. The earlier shipments were donations.
• Former President Joseph Estrada has contracted COVID-19 and is being treated at the hospital, according to his son, Ex-Sen. Jinggoy Estrada.
• Catholic bishops urged the faithful to pray harder this Holy Week for the world to recover from the pandemic.

YOUR ECQ GUIDE

• Here's a guide for APORs or authorized persons outside of residence on checkpoints and curfews.
• Public and private transportation is allowed for APORs. Here are the rules.
• These businesses are allowed to open at full or partial capacity during the ECQ
• Banks also have shortened operating hours during the ECQ
• Outdoor exercise is allowed, just don't wander too far from your front door or to other barangays, according to the MMDA.
• If your doctor advises COVID home care, here's how to do it.
• If you're going to St. Luke's Medical Center, they have a swab-before-admission policy.

MONEY EXPLAINED

• The Bangko Sentral wants Filipinos to fully embrace digital payments. In 2020, personal QR code payments grew 5,600%.

POLITICS EXPLAINED

• Here's why Vice President Leni Robredo refuses to give up on the Philippines and seek a peaceful and better life abroad like some of her countrymen.