Philippines to use police in house-to-house searches for Covid-19 cases

MANILA - Philippine authorities and police will carry out house-to-house searches for Covid-19 patients to prevent wider transmission, a minister said on Tuesday (July 14), amid soaring death and infection numbers and some areas returning to a stricter lockdown. Interior Minister Eduardo Ano urged the public to report cases in their neighbourhoods, warning that anyone infected who refused to cooperate faced imprisonment. The tough approach comes during a week when the Philippines recorded South-east Asia biggest daily jump in coronavirus deaths and saw hospital occupancy grow sharply, after a tripling of infections since a tough lockdown was eased on June 1 to allow more movement and commerce. "We don't want positive patients to stay home in (self) quarantine especially if their homes don't have the capacity," Mr Ano told a news conference. "So what we will do... is to go house to house and we will bring the positive cases to our Covid-19 isolation facilities." The strategy is a departure from previous advice for positive cases with mild symptoms to self-isolate.

from Asia
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