Duterte Threatens Prisoners Of Residents Not Wearing Masks Outside The Home

President of the Philippines (Source: pcoo.gov.ph)

JAKARTA - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to imprison people who are caught not wearing masks while on the move outside the home. Duterte is worried that COVID-19 has become more prevalent since the Philippines relaxed its locks.

In Southeast Asia, the Philippines is currently right below Indonesia, the country with the highest cases of COVID-19 transmission. The authorities have recently re-imposed strict lockdowns in areas with high transmission rates of the corona virus.

Duterte has often made strong statements in this regard. Last April, he even threatened to shoot anyone who broke the lockdown rule.

"We have no qualms about arresting people. Not obeying the rules is a serious crime because it can spread the respiratory disease COVID-19," Duterte said in a speech quoted by Reuters on Tuesday, July 21.

"If you are taken to a police station and detained there, it will teach you lessons forever," he added.

Together with the tightening of locks in a number of regions, the authorities plan to increase daily testing for COVID-19, from 20-23 thousand to 32-40 thousand per day.

In total, to date the Philippines has only tested 1.1 million people. The authorities' target is to test ten million people or nearly 10 percent of the country's population.

“We cannot test every citizen because no country does. Even the United States, which is known to be rich, does not do that, ”Philippine Health Minister Francisco Duque.

The Philippines has confirmed 68,898 cases of COVID-19 transmission. Among them, there were 1,835 cases died.