By Alec Go
The Philippine National Police (PNP) reported that 1,503,273 violations of minimum public health standards were recorded between August 20, 2020 to March 23, 2021.
PNP Chief General Debold Sinas said the most common violations include not wearing of face mask and shield, mass gatherings, non-observance of physical distancing, and violation of RA 11332 or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.
Based on the data presented by Gen. Sinas to President Duterte, non-wearing of face mask has consistently topped the list with 671,104 cases, which had its peak on September 2020 with a total of 112,587 cases.
This was followed by violations in physical distancing which remained high throughout the period with a total of 430,773 cases, including 118,021 in September 2020 alone.
In the National Capital Region, 260,253 total violations were recorded which comprise 17.31 percent of the nationwide tally. Violations concerning face masks was the most common which had 33,354 cases in November alone.
Violations on the use of face shield rose in the beginning of 2021 with 13,229 cases in January and 15,584 in February.
“For Region 3, it is significant to note that non-wearing of face mask is the number one violation committed for the last eight months and the highest was recorded in the month of September for a total of 6,248,” Gen. Sinas added.
Moreover, data show that the situation of failure to wear face mask was similar in Region 4A which recorded the highest violations in December and March with 3,225 and 3,449, respectively.
The government has declared a tightened enforcement of movement restrictions within the National Capital Region (NCR) and its neighboring provinces starting March 22 to April 4, 2021 amid the surge of COVID-19 cases in the country.
On March 26, the Department of Health (DOH) reported the highest number of daily COVID-19 cases at 9,838 since the pandemic began. Prior to this, the NCR has implemented a unified curfew hours beginning March 15 to 23.
The police chief noted that 27,513 violations were documented, the highest was reported by the Manila Police District with 7,830.
The support to local government units and agencies in the implementation of protocols has been recommended, together with sustained massive information drives and inclusion of Joint Task Force COVID-19 shield personnel in the vaccination program.