After several conflicting statements among government officials over face shield mandate, President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the mandatory wearing of face shields for indoor and outdoor settings.
Duterte made the announcement following the detection of four new cases linked to Delta variant of coronavirus first detected in India.
“Acting on the advice of health experts and in view of the Delta variant, PRRD declared that the wearing of face shields, both indoor and outdoor, is still mandatory,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque confirmed in a tweet.
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Roque on Monday said the mandatory wearing of the face shield will be lifted.
In his pre-recorded speech on Monday, Duterte adopted the recommendation of health experts to keep the face shield mandate.
Duterte also said he apologizes to the Filipinos for making the public think the government was ready to drop the mandatory use of face shield.
The president earlier said the face shield will only be used in hospitals.
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“When I mentioned about the face shield, I was only shooting the breeze with the congressmen, the members of Congress who were there,” Duterte said.
According to him, he never said with finality that face shields will no longer be required.
Duterte said he agreed with experts to keep the wearing of face shields mandatory due to the “very aggressive” Delta variant.
Duterte furthered that the country might experience a second wave much worse than the first since the Delta variant is highly transmissible and could spread quickly in a short amount of time. (RA)
