MANILA – The Quezon City government has ordered the closure of a fitness club and cafe for refusing to cooperate with an ongoing investigation related to an mpox case detected last week.
In a news release on Monday, the city government announced that it had issued a cease and desist order and a notice of violation against Fahrenheit Cafe and Fitness Center (F Club) after the establishment declined to assist the contact tracing team.
“Itinuturing nating banta sa kalusugan at kapakanan ng mga QCitizen ang ganitong pagtanggi sa isinasagawa nating contact tracing efforts. Maagap ‘yung ginagawa nating pagtugon at imbestigasyon, pero napapatagal at nade-delay dahil ayaw makipag-cooperate (We consider this rejection of our contact tracing efforts as a threat to the health and well-being of QCitizens. We are responding and investigating promptly, but we are being delayed because they do not want to cooperate),” Mayor Joy Belmonte stated.
On Saturday, the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Division of the City Health Department visited F Club to initiate contact tracing measures, following instructions from the Department of Health (DOH).
The city government noted that the club refused to cooperate, though no further details were provided.
Belmonte also urged business owners to collaborate with the city government, particularly on public health issues.
“Nananawagan ako sa mga residente at business owners na makiisa at makipag-cooperate sa mga health event investigation ng lungsod. Ginagawa lang namin ang aming responsibilidad para matiyak na protektado at ligtas ang lahat ng QCitizens (I am calling on residents and business owners to unite and cooperate with the city’s health event investigations. We are simply doing our responsibility to ensure that all QCitizens are protected and safe),” she said.
On Monday, the DOH announced the detection of two additional mpox cases in Metro Manila, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 12.
The DOH reported that the 11th case is a 37-year-old male, while the 12th case is a 32-year-old male. Both patients admitted to having close, intimate, and skin-to-skin contact before the onset of symptoms.
The 11th case is currently hospitalized, while the 12th case is in home isolation.
The DOH assured the public that the latest cases involve the milder mpox virus, MPXV clade II.