MANILA – The government will soon release new guidelines on the face shield policy to avoid confusion, an official said Thursday.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said he approved the recommendation of government advisers that the use of face shields can be lifted in areas that do not fall under the 3C category: crowded, closed and close contact.

• Duterte says no need to use face shields in open areas

“Base nga sa direktiba ni Pangulo, ating aamyendahan yung ating mga memorandum circulars on anong description nitong crowded areas,” Interior Undersecretary Epimaco Densing said.

(Based on the president’s directive, we will amend our memorandum circular on the description of crowded areas.)

“Sa bagong panuntunan na ating gagawin, ide-define natin yung mga lugar na considered crowded. So, halimbawa, ang palengke. Ang palengke ay, may mga palengkeng open area pero considered crowded. So ide-define po natin 'tong mga crowded areas.”

“In other words, we will be very specific ano itong mga crowded areas na ide-define natin,” he said.

(In the guidelines that we will craft, we will define which areas are considered crowded. For example, public markets. Some public markets are open areas, but they are also considered crowded. We will be very specific as to our definition of crowded areas.)

Densing said their new memorandum may define not only crowded spaces but also “crowded activities.”

“Dahil ‘di na po natin 'pagagamit yung face shield, eh, magde-define din po tayo kung ano yung crowded areas, at mga crowded activities.”

“So halimbawa, I think meron kaming mga reports na merong gustong lumabas para in preparation for mga political activities, ide-define din po natin yun. So, magkakaroon tayo ng malinaw na description.”

Duterte in June limited the use of the plastic face coverings on top of face masks to hospitals.

But days later, he again required face shields in public areas, both indoors and outdoors, after the health department confirmed the first few cases of the highly infectious Delta COVID-19 variant.

The Philippines has recorded a total of 2,434,753 confirmed COVID-19 cases, as of Thursday, of which 165,790 are active, the health department said.

• PH adds 17,411 more COVID-19 cases; ICU occupancy rate reach 79 pct

A quarter of the target population for COVID-19 vaccination have been fully immunized against the disease, according to the government.

• 19 million now fully vaccinated vs COVID-19 in Philippines, a fourth of gov't target

--TeleRadyo, 23 September 2021

• Bentahan ng face shields sa Divisoria, bagsak presyo