{"id":250869,"date":"2020-04-02T02:09:47","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T06:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=250869"},"modified":"2020-04-02T02:09:47","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T06:09:47","slug":"supermarkets-pharmacies-urged-to-stay-open-up-to-12-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/04\/02\/supermarkets-pharmacies-urged-to-stay-open-up-to-12-hours\/","title":{"rendered":"Supermarkets, pharmacies urged to stay open up to 12 hours"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Only establishments selling basic necessities are allowed to operate during the enhanced community quarantine which will be in place in Luzon until April 12. (Shutterstock photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 The government is strongly encouraging supermarkets and other establishments selling basic necessities to extend their store operations to a maximum of 12 hours to prevent crowding amid the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.<\/p>\n

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said this was agreed upon by members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) during their meeting on Wednesday following public clamor to extend store hours.<\/p>\n

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez earlier recommended the extension of store hours to prevent the crowding of shoppers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupermarkets, public and private wet markets, grocery stores, agri-fishery supply stores, pharmacies, drug stores, and other retail establishments engaged in the business of selling basic necessities are strongly encouraged to extend their store operations to a maximum of 12 hours,\u201d Nograles said in a virtual presser.<\/p>\n

Nograles, who is also IATF-EID spokesperson, said that local government units (LGUs) still have to observe social distancing to minimize the risk of catching of spreading the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the operation of wet markets, LGUs are encouraged to adopt reasonable schemes to ensure compliance with strict social distancing measures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said LGUs may also create specific daily schedules per sector, barangay, or purok.<\/p>\n

Only establishments selling basic necessities are allowed to operate during the enhanced community quarantine which will be in place in Luzon until April 12.<\/p>\n

Some supermarkets have adjusted their store hours during the enhanced community quarantine period in Luzon.<\/p>\n

Other establishments also offer online grocery services and deliver these at one’s doorstep.<\/p>\n

Some local governments have also launched their own mobile markets while mass public transportation ban is in place.<\/p>\n

All shoppers are allowed to go outside and buy food with or without quarantine passes provided they observe strict social distancing.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the IATF has also provided a minimum 30-day grace period on residential rents and commercial rents of small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) during the quarantine period.<\/p>\n

He said MSMEs can pay their rents without incurring interests, penalties, fees, and other charges.<\/p>\n

The Department of Trade (DTI) and Industry has been authorized to issue the necessary guidelines to implement this directive.<\/p>\n

Currently, the IATF is still studying whether or not there is a need to lift or extend the quarantine.<\/p>\n

As of Wednesday, there are a total of 2,311 confirmed Covid-19 cases, 96 fatalities, and 50 recoveries in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The government is strongly encouraging supermarkets and other establishments selling basic necessities to extend their store operations to a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":158369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250870,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250869\/revisions\/250870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}