Año wants Christmas carolers to go digital for 2020 holiday season

MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Tuesday said he prefers Christmas carollers to go digital this year as mass singing may be risky for COVID-19 transmission.

“Well, hindi pa naman bawal [iyong caroling]. Hindi pa nagkakaroon ng resolution pero iyon ang i-re-recommend at iyon din ang recommendation ng mayors natin sa National Capital Region,” Año replied when asked about the status of proposals to ban actual Christmas caroling during the upcoming holiday season in an interview over ABS-CBN Teleradyo.

(Well, it is not yet banned. There is no resolution yet but that is our recommendation and the recommendation of NCR mayors as well.)

“Kung magkakaroon ng caroling, online caroling na lang pero iyong personal at face-to-face sa ngayon, hindi pa nararapat,” he added.

(If there would be caroling, we prefer online caroling because personal and face-to-face activities are not ideal for now.)

Año, who is also vice-chair of Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), previously said he will recommend the ban on mass singing like choir and caroling because it would require the removal of face masks as they sing which could cause potential transmission of the virus.

As of Monday, health authorities said the country already has 398,449 total confirmed cases of COVID-19, a disease caused by the latest coronavirus strain SARS-CoV-2. Of the sum, 361,784 patients managed to recover while 7,647 died.

KGA