SEAOIL announces fuel discounts for medical frontliners

For frontliners with their own vehicles, SEAOIL has announced that a P5.00 gasoline and P3.00 diesel discount in selected stations across the country has been made available. These frontliners include medical professionals and technicians, hospital and clinic staff, uniformed personnel of the AFP, PNP and Coast Guards, and LGU officials, health workers, and quarantine enforcers.

Ben&Ben launches online event to raise funds for COVID-19 relief

Ben&Ben is set to hold a massive fundraising online showcase entitled, “Puhon: A Ben&Ben FB Live Event for the COVID-19 Efforts.” 

The nine-piece collective will be performing some of their biggest hits for a one-hour live stream show while staying in their respective homes. 

The Facebook Live Jam will happen on March 27, 2020 (Friday) at 7:00 PM. It will serve as a launch pad for the band’s community-initiative website, www.puhon.ph, which aims to inspire, uplift and boost the collective morale of all the key stakeholders of the COVID-19 response through uplifting stories, music, art, and more. 

Telemedicine seen to assist in limiting spread of COVID-19 and decongesting hospitals

As the number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines continues to escalate, the general public may take advantage of telemedicine services to avail of medical advice especially when staying at home or under quarantine.

Maridol D. Ylanan, CEO of Global Telehealth, Inc. which runs KonsultaMD, said telemedicine is a viable alternative to visits to hospital emergency rooms which should be reserved for more critical situations.

URC and GBF provide food, beverage for frontline heroes

Universal Robina Corporation (URC) and the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation (GBF) have been distributing products such as Great Taste Coffee, Magic Crackers, Nissin Noodles and C2 to several checkpoints and hospitals dealing with suspected and confirmed cases of Covid-19.  

URC products are currently being delivered to the Philippine Lung Center, East Avenue Hospital, the Philippine Heart Center, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, and the Department of Health’s Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Units in the National Capital Region and Region 4A.

GCash says fintech could help facilitate fund transfers amid national emergency due to Covid-19

With restricted mobility and limited options due to the enhanced community quarantine of the whole island of Luzon and local lockdowns of other cities and provinces, Filipinos may opt to send and receive money to and from their loved ones via their mobile phones. 

Aside from mobile wallets being more convenient -- as anyone with a mobile digital finance account could transfer money anytime and anywhere -- the use of financial technology for fund transfers also supports the government’s initiative of keeping people in their homes. 

Smart lets you have more ways to be there for each other with Free Stories for All

The paradox of “social distancing” in this time of COVID-19 is that we also need all the more to stay in touch while we stay at home.

With its new “Free Stories For All,” PLDT wireless arm Smart Communications, Inc. is giving its prepaid subscribers a better way to stay safe, connected, informed, and, to simply be there for those who matter to us so we may all pull through during these difficult times.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and Mastercard Launch Initiative to Speed Development and Access to Therapies for COVID-19

COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator will coordinate R&D efforts and remove barriers to drug development and scale-up to address the epidemic

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and Mastercard today committed up to $125 million in seed funding to speed-up the response to the COVID-19 epidemic by identifying, assessing, developing, and scaling-up treatments. The partners are committed to equitable access, including making products available and affordable in low-resource settings. The COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator will play a catalytic role by accelerating and evaluating new and repurposed drugs and biologics to treat patients with COVID-19 in the immediate term, and other viral pathogens in the longer-term. Currently there are no broad-spectrum antivirals or immunotherapies available for the fight against emerging pathogens, and none approved for use on COVID-19.