Malacañang disproved the claims of a circulating audio recording that a total lockdown and Martial Law will be imposed in the country amid the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.
In the Jan. 7 Palace briefing, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles called the voice clip’s claim as “fake news.”
“Huwag tayong magpapaniwala sa mga ganitong uri ng balita. Please get your news and information from credible sources only,” the official said.
“Kaya naman ibinabalita kaagad natin ang mga bagong hakbang laban sa COVID para alam kaagad ito ng taumbayan. Sa ga walang magawa na gumagawa at nagpapakalat nito, tigilan niyo na ito,” he added.
Nograles said the country is dealing with a “real threat” that concerns the public, and that the dissemination of “baseless and malicious rumors” causes “unnecessary anxiety.”
The government recently escalated the alert level of the National Capital Region (NCR) and other areas amid rising numbers of COVID-19 cases.
Asked whether the current alert level will be raised to Level 4, Nograles said this will be based on certain metrics such as the transmission of COVID-19 and the capacity of healthcare systems.
“Kapag kinakailangang itaas ang alert level ng isang lugar saan man sa ating bansa, kapag tumama sa parameters ng ating Alert Level System, ay ginagawa naman kaagad natin,” he said. – Report from Mela Lesmoras/AG
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