South Korea and China have been sanitizing and putting on quarantine their bank notes due to the possibility of carrying the virus, but the move has not yet been implemented in the Philippines.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) department in charge for bank note security said bank notes may be sanitized amid COVID-19 threat, but they are not recommending the measure as it may cause corrosion.
“‘Yung sa China kasi at Korea, thousands ang affected ng virus (In China and Korea, thousands are affected by the virus). Comparatively, (it’s still) very minimal pa siya. Sa ngayon, wala pa tayong coordination na ginagawa, pero masusi itong pag aaralan ng BSP ‘pag dumating ‘yung time na kailangan mag sanitize (For now, we still have not done any coordination yet, but the BSP will carefully study it when the need to sanitize is needed),” BSP Deputy Director Sarah Curtis said.
The BSP assured it continues releasing new bank notes, while old and soiled bank notes are returned by banks to the BSP.
The DOH also suggested sanitizing one’s hand after handling money instead of the cash itself.
Meanwhile, the central bank has been promoting cashless transactions through the use of online payment of bills among other commodities, and shared that users of online payment platforms since 2015 are nearing their 2020 target. – Report from Naomi Tiburcio
