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Duterte not keen on ditching face mask until his term ends
MANILA – While he urged Filipinos to continue adhering to minimum public health protocols, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte said he is not keen on ditching the requirement of wearing face masks until his term ends.
“I just state my cases, there’s no way that mask will not be required. It will be part of the protocol for a long time until my last day in the office. Iyan ang order ko at iyan ang sundin niyo (That’s my order, you should follow it),” Duterte said in his prerecorded Talk to the People aired Monday night.
Duterte cited the need to continue wearing face masks accompanied by regular hand washing and strict physical distancing.
“We are not out of the woods actually, we are still in a bind,” he said.
Despite a decline in the number of new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases and hospitalizations in the country, Duterte reiterated the need for the unvaccinated to avail of jabs “to protect the body.”
Duterte cited the need to wear face masks as it reduces the chance of spreading the disease amid the election-related and religious activities that entail the crowding of people.
“We have so many crowds lately – religious and political (And you can see people are very close to each other),” Duterte said, adding that health authorities have cautioned about the possible worse impact of these physical mass gatherings.
In her report to Duterte, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said other countries experienced Covid-19 surge after lifting mandated wearing of face masks.
Stellara Florencio
April 12, 2022 at 1:55 AM
It is better not to remove the wearing of the face mask first, especially since the threat of Covid-19 in the country has not disappeared. Even when the cases are low we still need to be careful not to repent later.
Hannah Sheila
April 12, 2022 at 2:40 AM
I like what President Rodirgo said quote “We are not out of the woods actually, we are still in a bind,”. Some of us became complacent because of the protocols loosening due to Alert level 1 but to be honest whatPresident said is true because even if with low cases being reported it doesnt change the fact that we are still in risk of contracting the virus and be back again on where we started way back 2020. I do approve that if it’s indeed necessary to wear facemask forever just to be protected on this virus I would gladly do it not just for me but for my loved ones health as well.