No need to call Lazarus
Priests wearing face masks, shields and gloves gesture as they receive pilgrims during the Saint Lazarus procession in El Rincon, Havana province, Cuba, on Thursday. Cuba has 9,771 cases with 8,770 recoveries and 137 deaths, according to the COVID-19 monitoring site worldometers.info. Adalberto Roque, AFP
Chilling effect
A seat is symbolically reserved for arrested journalist Lady Ann Salem during a press conference and launch of the Free Lady Ann Salem Network at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City on Friday. Salem, an editor at the alternative news website Manila Today and a member of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, was arrested in her house on December 10, Human Rights Day. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
Workers replenish dolomite in Manila Bay
Workers replenish crushed dolomite at the Manila Bay on Friday after a series of typhoons in November dumped trash and washed out portions of the artificial beach. Critics of the dolomite sand project, which is part of DENR’s Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program, have questioned the safety and necessity of the project costing some P389 million at a time when the country is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News
Tropical Depression Vicky hits Agusan del Sur
People push a half-submerged tricycle through a flooded street due to heavy rains caused by Tropical Depression Vicky in San Francisco town, Agusan del Sur on Friday. PAGASA said the combined effects of Vicky and the tail-end of a frontal system would bring moderate to heavy with at times intense rains on Friday over Caraga, Davao Oriental, Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, Camiguin, Southern Leyte, Leyte and Bohol. Erwin Mascarinas, AFP
Christmas in the new normal
A woman wearing a face mask and face shield passes in front of a restaurant adorned with Christmas decorations at a shopping mall in Makati on Friday, a few days before Christmas. Experts have recently backed the mandatory wearing of face shields to curb the spread of COVID-19 as the country logged 2,122 cases Friday, the highest recorded tally in over a month. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
Not quite a hat
A boy wears a face mask as he sells bags in the shopping district of Divisoria in Manila on Friday. Many Filipinos flock to this area to buy cheaper goods as they prepare for Christmas holidays in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation amid government health restrictions to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. Aaron Favila, AP