Shoppers not required to wear face masks at supermarkets, drugstores — Nograles

MANILA, Philippines —  Shoppers can enter supermarkets and drugstores even without face masks, the government said Monday, adding that no such order was enforced amid the coronavirus crisis.

According to Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, who is also the spokesperson of the government’s Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases, the IATF only mandated supermarkets to observe social distancing in their establishments to prevent the spread of the respiratory disease.

“Wala naman kaming inilabas na patakaran mula sa inter-agency task force na kailngan magsuot ng mask bago pumasok sa mga supermarket. Ang rules lamang po ay magkaroon ng social distancing sa mga supermarkets so ganun nalang po sundin natin. Social distancing lang po,” Nograles said in a “public” briefing aired over state-run PTV.

President Duterte on Monday placed the entire Luzon under lockdown until April 13 amid the increasing COVID-19 cases in the country, forcing about half of the country’s population to stay and only allowing one person per household to go outside to purchase basic necessities and provisions for food.

As of Monday morning, there are 380 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, 25 of whom have died, while 17 recovered.

The virus was first detected in Hubei, China and has so far infected more than 290,000 and killed nearly 13,000 across 186 countries and territories.