The Philippines Closes Off Capital With Armed Officers at Borders As People Are Advised to Stay Home

Many countries are learning from China’s late response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

When the coronavirus first started spreading in China, authorities delayed informing the world about the severity of the disease’s spread within its borders and even tried to muzzle whistleblowers, like the late Dr Li Wenliang.

As White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said, this late response “probably cost the world community two months to respond,” during which “we could have dramatically curtailed what happened both in China and what’s now happening across the world”.

That’s why so many countries have taken measures early on to curb the spread of the virus in their country.

India for example, despite having only 93 cases, suspended all tourists visas for a month, barring international travellers from visiting the country.

Singapore, too, recently banned visitors with travel history to Italy, France, Spain, and Germany within the last 14 days.

And many other countries are following suit.

The Philippines Closes Off Capital With Armed Officers at Borders 

The Phillippines has closed off access to their densely populated capital Manila on 15 March, in a bid to curb the nation’s rising number of Covid-19 cases.

Main roads into the city of around 12 million have been blocked off by officers armed with rifles.

Mass gatherings and school at all levels have also been called off, and domestic flights to and from the capital have been cancelled for a month-long isolation.

Travel Ban

As you know, President Rodrigo Duterte recently announced that the Philippines will be banning all travellers from countries that have local transmissions of Covid-19, which would include Singapore although the names of the countries haven’t been revealed.

The Department of Health reported 13 additional cases on Saturday (14 March), bringing the total number of Covid-19 cases in the Philippines to 111.

There have been 8 fatalities so far, most of which occurred in Metro Manila.

“We were like Italy two months ago”

Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano advised people to stay at home and “not do anything” during the outbreak. He also talked about the necessity of preventive measures, before the situation gets too dire.

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“We were like Italy two months ago. They were arguing whether to impose a lockdown or not,” he said, adding such a situation could not be allowed to happen in the Philippines.

Italy now has the highest number of Covid-19 cases outside China, with a total of 21,157 cases and over 1,200 deaths.

The sealing off of the city is not total, however, as people going to work will be allowed to enter through checkpoints, according to CNA.

More and more countries are introducing seemingly drastic measures, but it’s important to note that most of these are precautionary; it doesn’t mean that the situation is getting worse, just that they want to prevent it from escalating.