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Filipinos who are considered low risk to get COVID-19 now have the option not to wear face masks outdoors, an executive order signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said Monday.

Executive Order No. 3 which took effect last Monday after it was published in the Official Gazette, is expected to free millions of Filipinos from wearing face masks, which were imposed when the government imposed a lockdown on March 2020.

Last week, the Inter-Agency Task Force recommended to Marcos to ease wearing face masks in certain areas. With over 72 million Filipinos getting two primary doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Marcos approved it.

Marcos will also extend the State of National Calamity for three more months to help ''preserve its benefits'' to the health sector, said Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles in a Palace briefing. The State of National Calamity was to expire Monday.

Executive Order No. 3, which eased the face mask mandate in "open spaces and non-crowded outdoor areas with good ventilation", but Cruz-Angeles said it still "highly encourages" those who are not fully vaccinated, senior citizens, and immunocompromised to continue to continue wearing face masks and practice physical distancing outdoors.

The face mask mandate will also be enforced indoors, private or public establishments, including in public transportation and outdoors where physical distancing cannot be maintained.

Marcos ordered the Department of Health (DOH) to amend the minimum public health standards to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Cruz-Angeles said the executive order could still be revised depending on feedback on its implementation from concerned government agencies and local government units (LGU).

She said the large number of vaccinated individuals nationwide was one of the factors that convinced Marcos to approve the face mask mandate.

"We’re happy to announce that we are six percent away from the wall of immunity. That’s why we are confident with the new face masks (policy)," she said. DMS