Christmas Lockdown? 'Fake News,' Says COVID Task Force Spokesman

Reports of a fresh lockdown being readied for Christmas and New Year coming from unofficial sources are "fake news," the spokesman of the National Task Force on COVID-19 said Monday.

Should there be a need for a lockdown or strict quarantine, it will be localized to prevent coronavirus infections from spiking, retired general Restituto Padilla told reportr in a text message.

The policy making Inter-Agency Task Force or IATF and its implementing arm, the NTF, are working with local government to control the spread of the disease, especially during the Christmas holidays, he said.

"Everyone is strongly advised not to believe news or information coming from unverified sources. Please ensure you verify or ask authorities or trusted organizations about the veracity of such information before believing and passing it around. Let us not be instruments of fake news distribution and help our fellow kababayans," Padilla said.

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Hard lockdowns, like the ones implemented earlier this year, are  "measures of last recourse that we do not foresee being done," he said.

"The delicate balancing act between public health safety and the reboot of the economy is the primordial concern of the IATF/NTF while waiting for the complete inoculation of our countrymen," he said.

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