Majority of adult Filipinos support the government’s move to allow the voluntary wearing of face masks even as many of them prefer to continue wearing it, according to the results of a survey done by the Social Weather Stations.
Up to 91 percent of the survey’s respondents approved of the government directive issued on Oct. 28, 2022, by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The directive allows the voluntary wearing of face masks in indoor and outdoor settings, reiterating the continued implementation of minimum public health standards during the height of the pandemic.
The survey conducted from December 10 to 14, 2022, through face-to-face interviews with a sample size of 1,200 nationwide, showed that 64 percent “strongly approve,” the directive, 27 percent “somewhat approve,” four percent “undecided,” three percent “somewhat disapprove,” and one percent “strongly disapprove.”
Up to 91 percent of total Filipino household heads also agree with the voluntary wearing of face masks for children in face-to-face classes.
The country’s daily average of new Covid-19 cases went up by 11 percent from March 20 to 26, the Department of Health (DOH) reported on Monday, March 27.
The agency posted 185 daily infections from 167 recorded between March 13 to 19. The DOH also reported 1,298 new cases and 60 verified deaths in the recent week.
To date, the country has logged over 4.08 million coronavirus cases and more than 66,272 fatalities.
During the same week, the tally of severe and critical infections went down to 307 from the previous 368.
Only 14 percent or 285 out of the 2,041 intensive care unit (ICU) beds are in use, while 16.5 percent or 2,690 of 16,335 non-ICU beds were utilized.
At least 78,443,972 or 100.4 percent of the country’s target population (78,100,578) have been vaccinated against Covid-19, including 82.16 percent of 8,721,357 senior citizens, as of March 19.
A total of 23,811,248 have received booster shots out of the fully vaccinated population. – with a report from PNA
