The traditional “Simbang Gabi,” the nine-day dawn Masses before Christmas in the Philippines, will push through if the rate of COVID-19 infections continues to go down.
“If the attack rate and health capacity improve, we can shift to the modified general community quarantine,” said government spokesperson Harry Roque in a radio interview.
Bishop Broderick Pabillo of the Archdiocese of Manila has earlier asked the government to adjust the curfew hours during the Masses leading to Christmas Day.
Church officials have also appealed to authorities to increase capacity for religious activities during the “Simbang Gabi” from 10 percent to 30 percent of the capacity of the church.
The Philippine capital remains under a “general community quarantine” until the end of October and is still implementing a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
“It depends on our adherence to the [health protocols] campaign if we can allow more people to come to church for the Simbang Gabi,” said Roque. “I think we can make it happen,” he added.
The Philippines has posted 2,673 new cases of the new coronavirus disease on Saturday, October 17, bringing the total to 354,338.
The Health department said 2,286 or 86 percent of the newly recorded cases were detected in the last 14 days.
There are also 52,423 active cases or currently sick patients of which 84.7 percent are experiencing mild symptoms, 11 percent showed no symptoms, 2.9 percent are in critical condition and 1.5 percent are severe cases.
Rizal province recorded 185 newly infected residents, the area with the highest number of new cases, followed by Cavite with 175, Batangas with 159, Quezon City with 143 and Bulacan with 88 new infections, the department noted.
Meanwhile, 539 more people got better, raising the number of recoveries to 295,312. The death toll also rose to 6,603 with 73 more people succumbing to the disease.
Of the newly reported deaths, one died in May, two in July, 18 in August, three in September and 49 in October.
