MANILA, Philippines — With most national newspapers on their annual Good Friday break, purveyors of fake news managed to get free passes to disinform the public, falsely claiming “lockdowns” in the public health and energy sectors.

The first victim was the Department of Health (DOH) which dismissed as “fake news” claims posted on social media that there will be an emergency lockdown starting April 10 due to the “Cicada” variant of the coronavirus disease 2019.

Malacañang, on the other, labeled as fake a purported Department of Energy (DOE) “announcement” of an energy lockdown starting April 20.

“The Department of Health emphasizes that circulating claims of emergency lockdown in the country due to COVID-19 Cicada variant is false,” the DOH said in an advisory in Filipino at the weekend.

“There is no reason to implement a lockdown. The agency earlier said last March 31 that the Philippines remains safe from this variant,” the agency added, referring to tan earlier radio interview where DOH spokesperson Albert Domingo said that there was no reason to be alarmed.

The DOH said no cases of the Cicada strain have been detected in the Philippines as of April 2026, and the country remains safe from this variant.

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“It is called a variant under monitoring. There is no reason to be alarmed or bothered by it because the figures do not change. In fact, based on our latest monitoring, there are 60 percent fewer COVID-19 cases in the...

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