 Welcome to the Stop COVID-Dets webinar series brought to you by the University of the Philippines. The Stop COVID-Dets shorts make it easier for you to go to the presentations that you are interested in. I'm Dr. Raymond Sarmiento, Director of the National Telehealth Center. And I'm Dr. Susy Pineda Mercado, Adjunct Faculty of the National Telehealth Center. Together, let's stop COVID-Dets. Many of you who are here in this online community are in the medical professions, but there's a growing number of laypersons like me. Since the pandemic and the different levels of community quarantine that we have all lived under, there have been a lot of things that we laypersons have learned about COVID-19. I'd like to run by some of them, which I think are among the most important. So please, Dr. Susy, Dr. Raymond, tell me if these are correct. One, everyone has to be vigilant. Wear a mask or double up, wash your hands frequently, keep safe physical distancing, and importantly, demonstrate kindness to others. Two, the virus can be spread in airborne particles that linger in the air, which makes indoor and enclosed spaces riskier. So physical distancing and masking needs to be coupled with good ventilation. Three, don't panic about getting COVID-19 from packages that are delivered through logistics companies from the grocery and take out food, but keep on washing your hands with soap and water or with alcohol. Four, young, healthy people, including children, are not invulnerable to COVID-19. Five, superspreaders are a major threat. Six, the spectrum of COVID-19 runs the range from asymptomatic, mild, moderate, severe to critical. Seven, there is such a thing as long COVID and some can get infected more than once. Eight, misinformation is dangerous. Don't participate in its spread. False information, often called fake news that are shared on social media platforms, undermine scientific advice and are inimical to public health campaigns that aim to reduce the spread of COVID-19 virus. Nine, all viruses evolve over time. When a virus replicates, it could change a bit and this is normal for a virus. These changes are called mutations or variants of the original virus. Ten, there are VOIs and VOCs, variants of interest and variants of concern, which used to have alphanumeric names, B117, B1617, and then they were later identified by the places where the earliest documented samples were found, UK, South Africa, Brazil, India. But now, they are labeled following the Greek alphabet. Alpha, beta, gamma, and delta are variants of concern while eta, aiota, kapa, lambda are variants of interest. Mahabapa ang Greek alphabet baka dumami din ang variants. For the ordinary person who has been on some level of lockdown for a year and a half now, the questions in our minds include, will the pandemic ever end? What's the likelihood that the virus and its variants will disappear altogether? Or is the reality that there will be even more mutations? So we put our face in modern technology and the rapid pace of COVID-19, vaccine development and administration to shorten the length of this pandemic. Isa pa. Sabi nung aming COVID communication campaign, bakuna is love. Dahil mahal ko kayo, magpapabakuna ako. It looks like Pope Francis saw our campaign because he agrees. Sabi nga, being vaccinated is an act of love. We hope that you learned as much as we did from that excellent presentation. We also hope that you will join us every Friday from 12 noon to 2 p.m. Manila time on Zoom, Facebook, or YouTube. So stay safe, stay connected, and see you online.