![]() ![]() With approximately 1.62 million COVID-19 cases and more than 28,000 deaths, the Philippines has the second-worst coronavirus outbreak in Southeast Asia after Indonesia. “If they keep extending the lockdown, who will provide meals if we can’t get out,” she said. Ofelia Gonzales, 36, a Manila food vendor, missed the cut-off time for a vaccine appointment despite queueing since Wednesday night. Filipinos waiting to be vaccinated against COVID-19 gather outside a mall in Manila on Thursday, a day before stricter lockdown measures are reimplemented in the Philippine capital Photos on social media showed people jostling each other to be the first in line, prompting police intervention as they tried to enforce social-distancing rules. ![]() “There was news that you can’t get inside the malls or supermarket if you’re not vaccinated,” Bacay told the Reuters news agency. Maricel Bacay, a 59-year-old homemaker, was queueing outside a mall in Antipolo city in Rizal province neighbouring the capital at 3am (19:00 GMT) on Thursday to try and beat the anticipated crowds. The chaos on Thursday forced city officials to cancel vaccination in some sites, leaving many disappointed. “Now, people are scared because of remarks that they will be jailed, they will not be given aid, they will not be allowed to go outside.” Mad rush “The vaccines should have arrived a long time ago,” he said in Tagalog. Without naming the president, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno said on Friday that the chaos should be blamed on “somebody”, who issued several threats against unvaccinated individuals, generating public fear. He has also threatened unvaccinated individuals with prison. ![]() Government spokesmen later said the reports were fake and threatened to charge people spreading the information.īut last week, President Rodrigo Duterte himself said during his regular televised address that people who are unvaccinated should be barred from leaving their homes. People descended on the centres after reports began circulating that the government would not extend financial aid to unvaccinated individuals. I don’t know why they’re not being infected with COVID yet,” he said in Tagalog. They have nothing better to do with their lives. “I think there are people who are trying to spread fake news. This scene echoed in other sites in the city where hundreds lined up despite the curfew. On the eve of the lockdown, Roque pushed back angrily against the criticism of the government’s COVID-19 response, after thousands of people flocked to several vaccination centres in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, causing chaos and a near-stampede.Īfter waiting for hours, people waiting to get vaccinated ran towards the jab site of the Las Piñas Doctors Hospital in J. But many who live in the two provinces work in the nation’s capital and will likely be affected by the developments in Metro Manila. Metro Manila’s neighbouring provinces of Cavite and Rizal, which have a combined population of about 7.6 million, were also placed in a less restricted lockdown. The nearby province of Laguna, which has a population of 3.3 million, was also included in the order, as well as the cities of Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro in the central and southern Philippines, respectively, according to presidential spokesman Harry Roque. The movement restrictions were reimposed just after midnight (16:00 GMT) across Metro Manila on Friday, an urban sprawl of 16 cities that is home to 13 million people. The Philippine capital and several nearby provinces have headed back into a strict lockdown in a bid to curb the spread of the Delta variant, just hours after people scrambled desperately for vaccines at several COVID-19 vaccination sites raising concerns about a stampede. ![]()
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