News Roundup 16 March 2020
Mar 16, 2020 • 2 min Read
BREAKING: Luzon now under ‘enhanced community quarantine’ – Palace | INQUIRER.NET – President Rodrigo Duterte has placed the entire island of Luzon under “enhanced community quarantine” as COVID-19 cases continue to increase in the country. “PRRD just announced an enhanced community quarantine in the entire Luzon,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a message to reporters on Monday. Under an enhanced community quarantine, “strict home quarantine shall be implemented in all households; transportation shall be suspended; provision for food and essential services shall be regulated; and heightened presence of uniformed personnel to enforce quarantine procedures will be implemented”.
Hazard pay for health workers, other ‘frontliners’ vs COVID-19 pushed | PHILSTAR.COM – Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Monday pushed for the grant of hazard pay to “frontliners” of the country’s fight to contain the rapidly spreading novel coronavirus disease. “Every day, our health workers and other heroes from the public and private sector make great sacrifices as they work in the frontlines to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our communities. Let us thank and help them by making sure they receive proper compensation due their efforts,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
Duterte places the whole of Luzon under ‘enhanced community quarantine’ | Manila Bulletin – President Duterte has placed the whole of Luzon under “enhanced community quarantine” following the rapid surge of coronavirus cases in the country. In the memorandum signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea last weekend, the “general community quarantine” involves the movement of people will be limited to accessing basic necessity and uniformed personnel and quarantine officers shall be present at border points. The “enhanced community quarantine” includes the implementation of strict home quarantine, suspension of transportation, regulating the provision for food and essential health services; heightened presence of uniformed personnel to enforce quarantine procedures.
Equipment shortage hampers quarantine | The Manila Times – Lack of protective gear for enforcement personnel and temperature scanning equipment were the biggest snags as the community quarantine in Metro Manila went into effect Sunday. There were no other serious problems at the 47 border checkpoints set up to stop the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) from spreading further, according to the Armed Forces’ Joint Task Force National Capital Region (JTF-NCR).
