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MANILA— Authorities have reached an agreement on the much debated requirement for face shield use in public places, which has already been submitted for the approval of President Rodrigo Duterte, the health department said Saturday.

In a public briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said experts and the Department of Health (DOH) presented to the Inter-agency Task Force on COVID-19 this week studies and recommendations on the use of face shields as a COVID-19 deterrent.

"Nagkaroon ng diskusyon, magkakasama tayo ng iba’t ibang ahensya diyan at nagkaroon ng final agreement at ito ay ibibigay at naibigay na sa Office of the President wherein [they] will decide and inform the public pagkatapos po nila mapag-aralan din," Vergeire said.

(There was a discussion and we were able to tackle it with different agencies until we reached a final agreement. This has been submitted to the Office of the President where they will inform the public what the decision would be.)

The use of face shields has been contentious among government officials in recent days as the capital region, home to 13 million people, shifted to the looser Alert Level 2 amid the slowdown in new infections.

New COVID-19 cases also fell below the 3,000-mark in the past 11 days, ABS-CBN researchers noted.

So far, the cities of Manila, Muntinlupa, and major urban areas in Cebu have scrapped the face shield rule.

• Major cities in Cebu now faceshield-free as Mandaue lifts policy