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The government on Wednesday has lifted the use face shield in areas that do not fall under the 3C category: crowded, closed and close contact.

The government agreed on the lifting of use of face shield in open areas following numerous call from both the private, experts and local government units.

In his public address, President rodrigo Duterte made that announcement himself following the recommendation of his advisers.

“‘Yan tatlo na ‘yan (3C), face shield is a must pa rin. ‘Yun ang recommendation. Labas sa tatlong limitations, puwede na na hindi gumamit,” he said

Duterte in June limited the use of the plastic face coverings on top of face masks to hospitals.

Days later, he again required face shields in public areas, both indoors and outdoors, after the health department confirmed the first few cases of the highly infectious Delta COVID-19 variant.

Duterte explained he got scared of the Delta COVID-19 variant and that was why he required the use of face shields again.

The Philippines has among the highest numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths in Asia and has been battling an epidemic since March last year, which has hamstrung efforts to revive an economy that contracted more than 9 percent in 2020.

As of Wednesday, the country has a total of 2,417,419 COVID-19 cases, with 37,338 deaths and 162,580 active cases.

The World Health Organization earlier said it was reviewing the Philippines’ experience in using face shields as an additional layer of protection against COVID-19