Outgoing Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III urged the next administration to retain the country's face mask mandate amid the uptick in new Covid-19 cases.
“Kung ako ang tatanungin (If you ask me), I will recommend that it should be extended. Because we see there is already an increasing number of cases,” said Duque in a television interview on Thursday, June 23.
“Anything opposite of that will be rather strange. Kung tumataas, bakit ka magluluwag? So dapat ipagpatuloy na lang (If cases are rising, why would you ease up? So, it should be continued),” he added.
Aside from Covid-19, face masks also provide protection against other diseases such as influenza, bacterial pneumonia, asthma, monkeypox, among others, said Duque.
“It is really something... So ang daming value add (It has other added values). I think we should be more understanding of the value add of using masks and other public health social measures,” he said.