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Philippines Increases COVID-19 Testing

1) The Philippines plans to ramp up coronavirus testing to 32,000-40,000 tests per day, up from the current 20,000-23,000, as COVID-19 cases and deaths have risen sharply since lockdowns were eased in June. 2) President Duterte has threatened arrests for anyone not wearing a mask or keeping a safe distance from others, as he warns spreading the virus is a "serious crime." 3) The Philippines ranks second in Southeast Asia for COVID-19 infections and deaths, with cases jumping nearly four-fold and deaths nearly doubling since lockdowns were relaxed. Some areas have reimposed lockdowns amid new outbreaks.

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10 views2 pages

Philippines Increases COVID-19 Testing

1) The Philippines plans to ramp up coronavirus testing to 32,000-40,000 tests per day, up from the current 20,000-23,000, as COVID-19 cases and deaths have risen sharply since lockdowns were eased in June. 2) President Duterte has threatened arrests for anyone not wearing a mask or keeping a safe distance from others, as he warns spreading the virus is a "serious crime." 3) The Philippines ranks second in Southeast Asia for COVID-19 infections and deaths, with cases jumping nearly four-fold and deaths nearly doubling since lockdowns were relaxed. Some areas have reimposed lockdowns amid new outbreaks.

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galatians
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© All Rights Reserved
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Philippines to ramp up coronavirus

testing as Duterte warns of arrests


2 hours ago

Lockdown reimposed in Navotas City amid spike in cases of COVID-19

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines said on Tuesday it would ramp up testing for
the novel coronavirus amid a sharp rise in infections and deaths since a
lockdown was eased in June, while President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to
arrest anyone not wearing a mask.
The government aimed to test 32,000 to 40,000 people a day compared with the
current 20,000 to 23,000, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a televised
meeeting with Duterte.
The Philippines has tested nearly 1.1 million people so far, but Duque said the
aim was for 10 million people - or nearly a tenth of the population - to be tested
by the second quarter of next year.
"We cannot test every citizen as no country has done it even the richest, the
United States," Duque said.
In Southeast Asia, the Philippines ranks second to Indonesia in terms of the
number of infections and deaths, with cases jumping nearly four-fold to 68,898
and deaths nearly doubling to 1,835 since the government relaxed lockdown
measures in June.
Lockdowns have been reimposed in some of the hardest-hit areas.
Of 30 countries most impacted by the pandemic, the Philippines ranked 24th in
terms of testing rate, data from statistics aggregator Statista showed.
Duterte threatened to arrest anyone who spread the virus, refused to wear
masks or keep a safe distance from others. The tough-talking president warned
in April that violators of lockdown rules could be shot for causing trouble.
"We do not have any qualms in arresting people," Duterte said in a recorded
address aired on Tuesday. It was a "serious crime" to spread the COVID-19
respiratory disease, he added.
"If you are brought to the police station and detained there, that would give you a
lesson for all time," he said of anyone caught not wearing a mask.
Last week, officials said health workers and police would take patients with mild
or no symptoms from their homes and place them in isolation centres, raising
concerns about possible human rights violations.
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales and Karen Lema; Editing by Ed Davies and
Stephen Coates)

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