Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday that local government officials will be punished for falling behind their targets for COVID-19 vaccinations as the country seeks to open up the economy.
The Philippines, which has one of Asia's worst coronavirus epidemics, has so far fully immunised a little over a third of 77 million people eligible for shots.
Duterte said there was no reason why daily vaccinations could not be ramped up to at least a million from an average of 500,000 since the country has sufficient stock of vaccines.
"We saw fault lines in the overall picture of our vaccination programme. I am not contented," Duterte said in a recorded address aired on Wednesday.
Duterte said local officials "who are not performing nor using the doses given to them in a most expeditious manner" would be sanctioned and made accountable. He did not spell out the penalties.
The government has been gradually easing COVID-19 curbs, and on Wednesday, it announced it was lifting the nightly curfew imposed in the capital region from Thursday.
Duterte asked the police and military to use planes and helicopters to deliver the vaccines faster to the provinces.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the first stop in a broader trip to the Middle East to discuss issues including the governance of Gaza once the war with Israel ends.
The World Central Kitchen has announced its resumption of operations in the Gaza Strip, four weeks after seven of its employees were killed in an Israeli air attack.
At least four people died, including a four-month-old baby, and scores were injured in Oklahoma this weekend after dozens of twisters swept the US Southern Plains, while weather alerts on Sunday put more than 7 million Americans under tornado warnings.
Pope Francis offered encouragement to prisoners, artists and young people in Venice on Sunday, with his first trip of the year testing his mobility and resilience after a number of health scares in recent months.
Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was taken to hospital in poor health his lawyer confirmed, just days after his 2020 conviction in New York was overturned.
A gold pocket watch, which was recovered from the body of the richest man on the Titanic, has sold for over 4.1m dirham at auction, along with other items recovered from the sunken ship.
An Arab ministerial coordination meeting in Riyadh emphasised the necessity of ending the conflict on the Gaza Strip and the lifting of all restrictions that hinder the entry of humanitarian aid.
Lebanon has moved towards accepting the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction to prosecute violations on Lebanese territory since October, in what Human Rights Watch said on Saturday was a "landmark step" towards justice for war crimes.
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Welcome to Pinoy Bulletin, your go-to source for staying informed about important announcements, exciting group activities, community events, and job opportunities!
Welcome to Pinoy Bulletin, your go-to source for staying informed about important announcements, exciting group activities, community events, and job opportunities!