Filipinos urged to stay home even after community quarantine

Apart from staying at home, Nishijima advised the Filipino public to continue practicing non-pharmaceutical methods like physical distancing, regular handwashing, proper cough etiquette, and regular disinfection. (File photo: LOGAN WEAVER/Unsplash)

MANILA – Staying at home after the community quarantine would prevent the further spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country while waiting for a vaccine to be developed, an official of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.

“As we see the number of new reported cases, it’s not rapidly decreasing even after the strict implementation of the community quarantine.

If we stop staying at home, we might still see the explode or the increase in the number of new cases,” WHO Western Pacific Region technical officer Takeshi Nishijima said in Covid-19 virtual presser.

Apart from staying at home, Nishijima advised the Filipino public to continue practicing non-pharmaceutical methods like physical distancing, regular handwashing, proper cough etiquette, and regular disinfection.

He also encouraged the public to cooperate with the local government units for effective contact tracing to contain the spread of Covid-19.

“In the Philippines, we are seeing the new number of cases which is kind of stabilized a bit. But we’re hoping that it will decrease in the future…be prepared to continue what we do right now,” Nishijima said.

He added the WHO is committed to continuing its support for the Department of Health and the Filipinos.

To date, there are 14,669 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country with 3,412 recoveries and 886 deaths.