News Roundup 14 March 2020
Mar 15, 2020 • 1 min Read
Number of PUIs, PUMs in Quezon rises | INQUIRER.NET – LUCENA CITY — From only two on Friday, the number of recorded new suspected carriers of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) or patients under investigation (PUIs) in the province of Quezon rose to nine as of Saturday afternoon. The Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) in a public advisory issued at 6 p.m. Saturday said the five new PUIs are confined in undisclosed hospitals while the four were undergoing home quarantine. The IPHO also reported a spike in their record of “persons under monitoring” or PUMs for possibly being carriers of the novel coronavirus.
Arrests during community quarantine? DOJ says only for assault, bribery, slander | PHILSTAR.COM – Aside from the worry brought by the risk posed by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the anxiety of the impending lockdown because of it, another cause for concern: The threat of arrest for violating the quarantine. Relatedly, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters that “law enforcement agents can physically prevent actual movements (entry into or exit from Metro Manila) but cannot arrest or detain unless the person assaults the law enforcement agent, or slanders him, or bribes him, then that’s cause for warrantless arrest”.
Employment assistance pushed for possible layoffs due to COVID-19 restrictions | Manila Bulletin – Senators have appealed to government for contingency and employment assistance plans for workers who might be laid off from their jobs amid the growing threat of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.
Church services included in mass gatherings ban | The Manila Times – Masses, church services and other religious assemblies are included in the ban on mass gatherings that will be enforced during the one-month community quarantine in Metro Manila.
