Manila eyes mandatory use of face masks

As COVID-19 cases surge

MANILA, Philippines —  The city government of Manila may review its policy on the use of face masks after it observed a surge in COVID-19 casees, Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan said yesterday.

In a statement issued by the city’s public information office, Lacuna-Pangan said while “the reimposition of the mandatory face mask policy is not yet needed at the moment,” she “will continue to observe closely in the next coming days the trend of new COVID-19 cases to determine if mandating the use of face masks indoors and outdoors will be necessary.”

From 36 active cases on April 11, the figure climbed to 57 on April 13. The number of active cases jumped to 71 on Friday, with 15 cases recorded in Tondo 1 alone.

The remaining active cases on Friday came from Ermita with four; Intramuros, two; Malate, seven; Paco, eight; Pandacan, seven; Quiapo, one; Sampaloc, nine; San Andres, five; San Nicolas, three; Sta. Cruz, four; Sta. Mesa, one; and Tondo 2, five.

The districts of Binondo, Port Area, San Miguel and Sta. Ana did not record any COVID-19 case last Friday.

Lacuna-Pangan also called on residents to continue wearing face masks and get vaccinated against COVID-19.

OCTA Research earlier said the seven-day COVID positivity rate in the National Capital Region continued to increase in the first week of April, hitting 6.5 percent from 4.4 percent on April 1.

Metro Manila posted the most number of new COVID cases among all regions in the past two weeks at 1,065.