Philippines ending compulsory mask wearing outdoors

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials say President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved a recommendation to end the mandatory wearing of masks outdoors across the country more than two years after it was imposed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The interior secretary says Philippines and Myanmar are the last countries in Southeast Asia to ease the compulsory wearing of masks outdoors, though he encouraged the elderly and those with other illnesses to continue masking up in public areas. Among the hardest hit by coronavirus outbreaks in Southeast Asia, the Philippines imposed one of the longest lockdowns in the world, which caused its worst economic recession in decades and deepened poverty, hunger and unemployment.