QC resumes disinfection of public places following new guidelines

Image: Courtesy of the QCDRRMO

MANILA, Philippines — Quezon City has resumed the misting of public places after the local government approved new protocols on disinfecting public places.

In a statement on Saturday, the Quezon City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (QCDRRMO) drafted its own disinfection and cleaning operations protocols for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

This was in accordance with the Department of Health (DOH) circular 0172-2020, indicating guidelines on “cleaning and disinfection in various settings as an infection prevention and control measure against COVID-19,” the QCDRRMO added.

Part of the memo, QCDRRMO head Karl Michael Marasigan said, was that members of the disinfection team must wear personal protective equipment when misting and spraying public places.

Image: Courtesy of the QCDRRMO

The QC local government previously approved the new guidelines to combat COVID-19. Among those covered by the protocols are “public outdoor spaces, including but not limited to parks, roads, markets, and other open spaces, building facades, health care, and community caring facilities environment and vehicles used to transport suspected, probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases.”

Also included are “vehicles used to transport cadavers with COVID-19 probable or related causes of deaths, and other public facilities and funeral parlors dedicated for use in COVID-19 related operations.”

The QCDRRMO started disinfecting public places on the first week of the enhanced community quarantine, but stopped after the DOH, echoing the advice of the World Health Organization, discouraged it, saying that it may even cause harm.

/MUF