TF Covid: Don't let malls be ground zero for next wave of COVID

The Joint Task Force COVID-Shield asked Metro Manila residents to refrain from leaving their homes for non-essential trips to the malls while under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).

“Let’s show our cooperation. Do not let the malls be the ground zero for the next wave of COVID-19 infections. The success of this battle against coronavirus lies in your hands,” Lieutenant Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, chief of Joint Task Force COVID-Shield, said.

Eleazar said police officers will be deployed to different malls and business establishments that are allowed to operate under MECQ areas to ensure that the public observe health protocols.

The police will also ask local government units to close down malls and business establishments that cannot control the crowd as the country continues to struggle with COVID-19.

“Kasama sa provision ang ‘pag observe sa health protocols and social distancing measures. If may kapabayaan ang mga mall owners ay pwede itong maging grounds for their closure depending on the evidences na makukuha natin (Part of the provision is observing health protocols and social distancing measures. If mall owners neglect these, it will be grounds for their closure depending on the evidence that we get),” Eleazar said.

He however added all mall owners are now coordinating with the police and have already implemented the necessary measures to contain COVID-19.

Some residents of Metro Manila flocked to the malls last Saturday, May 16, the first day of the MECQ in the metropolis.

Eleazar said the police have recorded fewer violators since Saturday, indicating that people are following the order of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).