Malacañang yesterday issued a memorandum containing social distancing guidelines to be followed while Metro Manila is under a month-long community quarantine to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus disease 2019.
The Metro Manila community quarantine guidelines will take effect midnight last night to midnight of April 14.
A memorandum signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said mass gatherings such as movie screenings, concerts, sporting events and other entertainment activities, community assemblies, and non-essential work-related gatherings shall be prohibited.
Essential work-related meetings and religious activities may continue so long as strict social distancing, defined as the strict maintenance of a distance of at least one-meter radius between and among those attending, is maintained during the entirety of the event.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said all measures imposed are subject to the regular review by President Duterte and the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease to ensure that the virus would be contained and ultimately eliminated without extremely overwhelming the citizens in going about their daily lives.
“As always, the President is hard at work in the service of the Filipino people to preserve the general welfare and protect public health,” he said.
The memorandum also requires local government units to abide by the directives in the imposition of general community quarantine in their jurisdictions.
General community quarantine is defined as a condition where the movement of people shall be limited to accessing basic necessities and work, and uniformed personnel and quarantine officers shall be present at border points.
The memorandum restricts the non-essential entry and exit of people to the contained area, especially persons who are at high risk of being infected like senior citizens, immunocompromised or with co-morbidities, and pregnant women.
Exempted are health workers, authorized government officials, those traveling for medical or humanitarian reasons, persons transiting to airports for travel abroad, persons providing basic services and public utilities, and essential skeletal workforce. (Argyll Geducos)