COVID-19: Philippines extends lockdown till April 30 amid pandemic crisis

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on April 7 announced that the lockdown and quarantine measures for Luzon island were extended till April 30. According to reports, Duterte ordered strict quarantine measures for the island of Luzon which is the biggest and most populous region in the country.

Growing crisis

As per reports, the lockdown was only supposed to last till April 12 but an inter-governmental working group that is in charge of handling the coronavirus outbreak recently recommended to the president that the lockdown and strict quarantine measures be extended. This recommendation was then approved by Duterte who then announced the extension in a televised speech on April 6. The lockdown has severely impacted the poorer and more vulnerable sections of society. Several NGOs have urged the government to ease the lockdown and only apply in areas that are virus hotbeds. The Philippines has reported 3,660 coronavirus cases and almost 200 deaths so far due to pandemic.

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Man shot for violating quarantine

A 63-year-old man in the Philippines has been shot dead for violating isolation rules. According to international reports, the police said that the man threatened the village officials and the policemen with a scythe checkpoint assembled for the COVID-19 outbreak. Apparently, the man is believed to be intoxicated with alcohol when he threatened the villagers as well as the police officials in Nasipit in the southern province of Agusan del Norte.

According to the police report, the suspect was first cautioned by a worker in the village for not wearing a mask to prevent COVID-19 spread. But that made the man furious who later uttered provocative words and then attacked the personnel with a scythe. Since the police officials failed to pacify the man, he was shot dead making it the first reported case of a police officer shooting a civilian who refused to follow coronavirus restrictions. This also came after Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte warned that he would order the police officials to shoot anyone who violated the rules set by the government to stem virus spread.

Read: Coronavirus: Man Shot Dead In Philippines For Violating Lockdown

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