As the Philippines registers a recent spike in new COVID-19 cases, President Rodrigo Duterte is thinking about distributing free face masks for the public.
In a public briefing on Monday, the President said that he observed most Filipinos, especially the underprivileged, still use the same face mask they’ve been using for a long time since they cannot afford to buy new ones.
“We have to provide the masks for everybody. Eh kung ‘yang tao walang pera pambili, walang mask, how do you expect compliance from him?” he said.
The Department of Interior and Local Government and barangay captains can assist with the provision of face masks, said Duterte.
His advisory came days after the country reported its largest single-day increase of COVID-19 infections in more than 6 months, and its first case of the highly contagious variant first identified in Brazil.
The Philippines also reported 5,404 new cases on Monday, its fourth-highest tally in a day since the start of the pandemic.
