Duterte tells kids aged 10 to 14 to stay home anew due to UK variant

President Rodrigo Duterte has revoked the Inter-Agency Task Force's earlier decision to allow minors aged 10 to 14 years old to leave their homes in areas under modified general community quarantine.

Duterte said this was due to the UK variant of the COVID-19 virus that had been detected in several patients in the country.

“Balik ho kayo sa bahay muna… Pasensya na po kayo. Mine is just a precaution. Takot lang ako kasi itong bagong strain strikes the young children,” he said in his weekly national address.

“Napilitan akong i-reimpose ‘yung [restrictions on] 10 to 14. Not at this time. It’s a sacrifice for the parents and for the children.”

Last week, presidential spokesman Harry Roque announced that minors aged 10 to 14 in MGCQ areas would be allowed to go out starting February 1. 

Previously, only those 15 to 65 years old were allowed to leave their homes amid the pandemic.

Scientists in the United Kingdom earlier said the new coronavirus variant initially discovered there may be more capable of infecting children. 

The new variant is largely believed to be more transmissible, with experts still confirming whether it can make COVID-19 deadlier. 

The Philippines has so far recorded 17 COVID-19 cases with the UK variant, 12 of whom are from Bontoc, Mountain Province. 

The country has 514,996 infections, including 475,422 recoveries and 10,292 deaths, as of Monday afternoon. -NB/LDF, GMA News