Day: July 4, 2021

Forty-five people were killed when a military plane crashed in the Philippines Sunday afternoon.

Forty-two of the victims were members of the army and three were civilians who were killed on the ground when the plane crashed around noon outside Jolo airport in the southern Sulu province.

It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, but officials citing witnesses said the plane with 96 people on board missed the runway at the airport. The Jolo runway is shorter than others in the Philippines, making it harder to adjust if a pilot misses the landing, an air force official told the Associated Press.

Forty-nine soldiers were rescued from the wreckage, many of them having jumped from the plane before it exploded shortly after the crash.

“This is a sad day, but we have to remain hopeful,” Major General William Gonzales, commander of the Joint Task Force-Sulu, said in a statement. “We enjoin the nation to pray for those who are injured and those who have perished in this tragedy.”

The Lockheed C-130 was one of two former U.S. Air Force aircraft given to the Philippines this year. It was carrying 88 soldiers, many of whom had recently completed basic training. Three pilots and five crew were also on board.

The troops were traveling from the southern Cagayan de Oro city to Sulu to fight Abu Sayyaf militants in the predominantly Muslim province, according to Sulu’s military commander.

“They were supposed to join us in our fight against terrorism,” Gonzales said, according to the Associated Press.

The United States offered condolences to the victims, with national security adviser Jake Sullivan saying in a statement Sunday that Washington is “ready to provide all appropriate support to the Philippines’ response effort.”

Source: Voice of America

ULAN BATOR– Mongolia reported 2,520 new COVID-19 cases, in the last 24 hours, raising its national caseload to 125,260, the country’s health ministry said today.

The ministry said that, a total of 8,834 samples were tested across Mongolia, in the past day.

One of the latest confirmed cases was imported from abroad, and the remaining ones were local infections.

In the past day, 10 patients died from the virus, pushing the death toll to 641, while the number of recoveries grew by 1,886 to 84,819, said the ministry.

The Asian country launched a national vaccination campaign in late Feb, aiming to vaccinate at least 60 percent of its population of 3.3 million.

So far, more than 1,759,600 Mongolians have been fully vaccinated.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Dozens of COVID-19 patients died in Indonesia over the weekend when a hospital in Yogyakarta ran out of oxygen.

The Dr. Sardjito General Hospital tried switching oxygen cylinders during the outage but failed to save 63 of its COVID patients as cities across the country are facing a surge in coronavirus cases.

“The hospital switched to oxygen cylinders, including the 100 cylinders donated by the Yogyakarta regional police. However, all efforts were too late,” hospital director Rukmono Siswishanto said in a statement Sunday morning.

Siswishanto said that he had informed multiple authorities including the minister of health that the hospital was due to run out of oxygen on Saturday evening.

The surge of daily new cases in Indonesia has pushed hospitals to build makeshift intensive care units and dedicate new quarantine centers. At least three new cemeteries for those who had COVID-19 have been set up in the capital of Jakarta.

In one neighborhood of Jakarta, residents in need of oxygen line up as early as 6 a.m. to fill tanks for their loved ones.

Over the past week, Indonesia has seen its highest number of new cases and deaths from the coronavirus. The country recorded 3,298 deaths over the past week, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

In India, officials have announced that thousands of residents have been given fake vaccines. Officials say the shots were given in fake vaccine camps set up in several cities, including Mumbai and Kolkata. Officials say six people, so far, have been arrested in connection with the fake shots.

India’s health ministry said Sunday that it had recorded more than 43,000 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24-hour period.

In Iran, officials are shutting down a number of businesses as the Delta variant continues to spread and vaccination rates continue to lag. Barely a third of Iran’s population has been vaccinated against the virus.

Meanwhile, Britain, which has fully vaccinated nearly half of its population, is expected to announce an end to mask requirements.

British media reported Sunday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans for “Freedom Day” on July 19th will scrap legal mask requirements, in addition to fully opening businesses and social interactions currently restricted.

Source: Voice of America

MANILA– The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH), reported today, 5,966 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,436,369.

The death toll climbed to 25,149, after 86 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said.

The Philippines, which has more than 110 million population, has tested more than 14 million people, since the outbreak in Jan, 2020.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK