By ROGER M. BALANZA

As government prepares to place the country under the least restrictive Alert Level 1, doing away with face masks is not included in the guidelines under the “new normal,” Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said.

“So far, there is no plan to drop the mandatory use of face mask,” Año told media .

Wearing of face masks is still “very essential” in the fight against Covid-19, vaccine czar and National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr.

“It is not in our discussion since masking is very essential until we finally declare that Covid 19 is totally eliminated. Masking is our final defense. It would be the last thing that we will remove,” media reports said quoting Galcez..