Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez. (File photo by YANCY LIM / Presidential Photographers Division)
MANILA, Philippines — Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said he did not get any advice on a directive that reportedly imposes window hours for shopping, or going to a market place, during the enhanced community quarantine over Luzon.
Lopez’s reaction came after there had been reports about a supposed updated guidelines on the quarantine being implemented by the government, which allegedly include an imposition of an 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. “market time window.”
Asked if this was true, Lopez told INQUIRER.net in a text message: “Not aware of that advise.”
During the Laging Handa press briefing on Wednesday, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles also made no mention of the supposed window hours for shopping food, medicines and other essentials.
What he did say was that “only one person per household would be allowed to buy/access basic necessities.”
“Barangay captains [village chairmen] must check for compliance,” he added.
Nograles further advised that senior citizens (those aged 60 years old and above), persons with pre-existing medical condition like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, COPD, cancer and others, as well as pregnant women should not go out during the period of enhanced community quarantine.
President Rodrigo Duterte has earlier placed the Philippines under a state of calamity with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases so far at 187.
Of the total number, at least 14 have already died from the disease.
The COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus that first emerged in China’s city of Wuhan in Hubei province in late 2019.
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses named the novel coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2.
Coronavirus is a family of viruses, whose surfaces have a crown-like appearance. The viruses are named for the spikes on their surfaces.
Worldwide, over 168,000 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19, with at least 6,506 dead.