Heeding the health workers’ warning, President Rodrigo Duterte directed local officials in Metro Manila and nearby provinces to enforce MECQ. | JMAurelioINQ
The health workers urged the government to place Metro Manila and outlying provinces back on enhanced community quarantine, or lockdown, for two weeks to give them “timeout” to recover from exhaustion and allow the government to recalibrate its response to the pandemic.
“You tell me to lock down Metro Manila and other places in the country so there will be no more transmission. The problem is, we have no more money. I cannot give any more food and money to the people,” Mr. Duterte said in a televised address after a meeting with Cabinet officials.The President rejected calls to fire Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, saying “nobody expected that thousands will get sick in one day.
“Only one person can ride a motorcycle. Do not use your shields, because motorcycles are for one person only,” Roque told a news briefing on Monday. Allowed to operate are essential businesses like banks, hospitals, drugstores, gas stations, grocery stores, markets, water refilling stations, laundry services, logistics, sanitation, repair and maintenance of machinery and equipment, telecommunications, and water and power distributors.
The President also green-lighted the use of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction as the standard test in the government’s expanded testing program.
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