MANILA, Philippines — Reports about a supposed lockdown next week due to the alleged presence in the country of the “Cicada” variant of COVID-19 are fake, according to the Department of Health.
In an advisory, the DOH said there is no truth to reports made by “Pinoy Newswire,” “Malasakit News Update” and “Weather Patrol” that an emergency lockdown would be enforced by April 10 purportedly to contain the Cicada variant of COVID 19.
“These reports of an emergency lockdown in the country due to COVID-19 Cicada variant is not true,” the DOH said. “There is no reason to worry and to enforce a lockdown.”
The health department urged the public to avoid spreading fake news and to get the right information only from the official DOH Facebook page and other social media platforms.
Earlier, the DOH emphasized that there has not been any report of Cicada infections in the country.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Cicada strain (BA.3.2) comes from the Omicron lineage of the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in South Africa in November WHO classified BA.3.2, which was detected in 23 countries, as a COVID variant under monitoring.