MANILA, PHILIPPINES — On Tuesday, the Department of Health’s officer-in-charge, Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, said there is no need to reimpose the mandatory use of face masks in public places.
Vergeire said during a media briefing that the department has recommended to the Office of the President, based on agreements from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, that there is no need to bring back the mandate.
She added that COVID-19 cases will continue to increase and decrease in the country as the virus is still present. Vergeire reminded the public to protect themselves and their families by choosing to wear a mask when going to high-risk places, especially if they are unvaccinated, immunocompromised, senior citizens, or pregnant.
“We already recommended to the Office of the President, based on agreements coming from IATF discussions, that we don’t need to bring back the mandates,” said Vergeire.
“Our policies do not need to be back and forth. We all need to help each other so that we can overcome this situation,” she added.
She also emphasized that the current spike in COVID-19 infections does not compare to the numbers recorded during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
Current Covid Cases
As of April 30, the Department of Health recorded 5,875 active COVID-19 cases from a total of 4,093,421 cases. A total of 4,021,102 recoveries and 66,444 deaths were also logged by the health department. Metro Manila is still under Alert Level 1, the lowest of the Alert Level System adopted by the government during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The country’s daily average of new COVID-19 cases increased by 42 percent from April 24 to 30. However, the health utilization rate remains at low risk because of the wall of immunity due to vaccination. At least 78,443,972, or 100.4 percent of the country’s target population of 78,100,578, have been vaccinated against COVID-19, including 82.16 percent of 8,721,357 senior citizens, as of March 19. – WhatALife!/Jayve
Also read: President Marcos Considers Reimposing Mask Mandates
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