More than half of the Filipinos surveyed in a recent poll “feel comfortable” if they will physically leave their homes to go to work once community quarantine measure are lifted.
The non-commissioned poll by Social Weather Stations, released on Friday, showed that around five in 10 or 55 percent of the Filipinos polled “feel comfortable” about leaving their homes for work in case the lockdowns end in August, while 40 percent said otherwise.
Conducted from July 3 to 6, the survey used mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviews of 1,555 adult Filipinos nationwide.
At the time of the interview, SWS said, 47 percent of the respondents said they had a job while 53 percent either did not have a job or never had a job.
‘Big hope’
The Department of Health says it is seeing “big hope” in the increasing recoveries from the COVID-19 cases of the Philippines that exceeded that of China, where the virus was first detected.
The department on Thursday reported 3,954 additional cases of COVID-19 and 38,075 new recoveries.
That brought the total number of cases to 89,374, and of which 22,327 were active cases, 65,064 were patients who recovered and 1,983 were fatalities.
Hospital closed
Manila City Mayor Francisco Domagoso on Thursday ordered the temporary closure of Ospital ng Maynila after reports that more health care workers had been infected with COVID-19.
Domagoso says the hospital will be closed until Aug. 9 to give way to sanitation activities and the identification of health care workers who might have been exposed to the virus.
He says it is important for the city government to keep its health care workers physically, emotionally and psychologically healthy.
Another testing facility
The Manila City government has launched another walk-in COVID-19 testing facility to intensify testing efforts amid the threat of the pandemic.
Manila Mayor Francisco Domogoso says the facility is located at the Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital
The city government earlier said people without vehicles may instead go to the walk-in COVID-19 testing facility near the city’s hospitals.
Those with vehicles may avail themselves of free COVID-19 testing in the drive-through facilities at the Andres Bonifacio Shrine near city hall and at the Quirino Grandstand.