Philippines is negotiating for 178 Million Covid-19 vaccine doses as total tally hits almost 529,000

MANILA, Feb 2 (Bloomberg): Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte pledged to keep the economy afloat amid the coronavirus pandemic as his administration raced to secure vaccines enough for most of its adult population.

"We are sinking deeper and deeper,” Duterte said in a live-streamed briefing on Monday night. "We are trying our very best to keep us afloat.” The South-East Asian nation’s gross domestic product contracted by 9.5% in 2020, the most since 1946.