MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and National Police Commission (Napolcom) has suspended work in its central offices on Friday, March 13, 2020.
This is to make way for the disinfection of the entire building as part of measures to prevent the spread of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an advisory sent to reporters on Friday said.
To date, there are 52 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country, with five deaths.
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President Rodrigro Duterte has placed Metro Manila under “community quarantine” amid the growing number of confirmed cases.
Metro Manila placed under ‘community quarantine’ due to COVID-19
The government has also upgraded its COVID-19 alert from Code Red Sublevel 1 to Sublevel 2.
BREAKING: Philippines upgrades coronavirus alert to Code Red Sublevel 2
Several government offices have already closed down their offices for cleaning and disinfection. Some public officials have also opted to undergo self-quarantine for possibly being exposed to the virus.
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The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses named the novel coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2.
The virus causes mild symptoms such as fever and cough for most people but can cause serious illness such as pneumonia for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.
Coronavirus is a family of viruses, which surfaces have a crown-like appearance.