(Photo grabbed from Manila DEPW)
Persons aged 15 to 65 are now allowed to go outside their residences under any community quarantine classification, Malacañang announced on Friday.
Previously, those aged below 21 and above 60 were banned from leaving their areas of residency, along with pregnant women and those with health risks.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque said local government units (LGUs) could impose a higher age limit for minors “depending on the Covid-19 situation in their respective jurisdictions.”
“The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) adjustment on age-based stay-at-home restrictions is based on science and hard data,” he said in a statement.
Roque, spokesman of the IATF, cited worldwide data showing that younger people were less prone to severe infections.
“Global experience has shown that the case fatality rate and severity of sickness between 15 and 20 years old vis-à-vis those who are 65-years old and above [are] much less as younger people have fewer health risks while there is a prevalence of immunodeficiency and comorbidity among senior citizens who would be better off at home,” he explained.
“This is in addition to the fact that the age of 65 is the retirement age of most in the private sector,” he added.
Those below 15 and over 65 years old, those with immunodeficiencies, comorbities or other health risks, pregnant women and those who reside with them are mandated to stay inside their homes unless going out for essential goods or work. John Ezekiel J. Hirro