Amid rise in cases

NATIONAL Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director, Major General Felipe R. Natividad on Tuesday sought full public cooperation and vigilance anew to prevent another upsurge in COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila by complying with government rules specifically the wearing of face masks in public and observance of physical distancing.

The NCRPO chief issued the appeal amid the possibility that Metro Manila will be placed anew under the much stricter Alert Level 2 by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases(IATF-EID) due to the uptick in infections over the past few days.

Natividad said that due to this, metropolitan residents and visitors must practice ‘self-discipline.’

“The NCRPO remains on its stand to continuously observe and impose health standard protocols following the uptick of COVID-19 cases to 30 percent from June 6-12, 2022, last week,” the official said.

“We are mandated and obliged to enforce the laws and regulations of the duly constituted authorities accordingly. Thus, we solicit the cooperation of the public to be mindful and observe minimum health standard protocols, especially when in crowded places. Implement self-imposed discipline like wearing a face mask, and observance of social distancing at all times,” he added.

Natividad added they will support any decision made by authorities, as it would be best for the general public and at the same time asked the public to bear with the possible increased restrictions to curb the growth of infections.

“Team NCRPO fully supports and respects decisions made by higher authorities for a possibility of alert level 2 in NCR especially when it concerns the welfare of the general public and its personnel,” he said.

“Further, please bear with us and your government. We assure you that we will keep our communities safe and protected at all times no matter what it takes,” he added.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Officer-in-Charge, Lieutenant General Vicente D. Danao Jr. earlier said police nationwide are under orders to keep fully implementing the minimum public health safety protocols issued by the IATF-MEID specifically the mandatory wearing of face masks in all public places and the observance of physical distancing.

The top cop said that all 17 police regional offices are under instruction to continue strictly enforcing minimum public health safety protocols in their areas as part of efforts to prevent another wide transmission of the virus.

Thus, police will go after individuals who are violating government protocols on physical distancing and the mandatory wearing of face masks in public places to prevent another COVID-19 outbreak in any part of the country, Lt. Gen. Danao explained.

The Department of Health earlier confirmed the local transmission in the country of BA.2.12.1, a more contagious but less deadly version of Omicron, a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.