A public advisory on the supposed implementation of a lockdown in the country to contain the rapid transmission of monkeypox (mpox) virus is circulating on Facebook (FB). This is false.
Published on May 30, the earliest copy of the advisory that VERA Files has tracked bore a graphic with overlay texts that read:
“Public Advisory
Dahil sa mabilis na pagkalat ng MPOX (Due to the rapid spread of MPOX)
Magkakaroon ng malawakang LOCK DOWN (there will be a widespread LOCKDOWN)
Start on June 10, 2025
Details are in post
STAY SAFE! WEAR YOUR MASK NOW!”
Some versions of the false public advisory bore the logos of the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Other copies carried a repurposed ABS-CBN graphic from May 28, 2020, originally about Metro Manila being placed under general community quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. The image was altered to falsely suggest that both the entire Philippines and Metro Manila would be placed under quarantine beginning June 2 and 10, respectively, due to mpox.
In a May 31 advisory, the DOH warned the public against the false claim circulating online, noting that “there is no need for a lockdown because mpox is not airborne.”
According to the WHO, mpox is “a viral infection which can spread between people, mainly through close contact, and occasionally from the environment to people via things and surfaces that have been touched by a person with mpox.”
The health agency said that frequent news on mpox cases was due to active announcements by local government units, adding that “there were more mpox cases in 2024, [and] more were also recorded in April compared to this May 2025.”
DOH also said there is still no case of Mpox Clade I-b, a more transmissible variant, detected in the country.
“Panay Clade II ang meron natin. Mas mababa ang mortality (pagkamatay) ng Clade II, nasa mga isa sa bawat sampu, kumpara sa 4-5 ng Clade I-b,” the Health department said.
(We mostly have Clade II. It has a lower mortality rate of about one out of 10, compared to Clade I-b, which has a rate of four to five [out of 10]).
The spurious posts started making the rounds online days after recent mpox cases were reported in some provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
Posted by various FB pages and users—including the earliest copy published by Health News Ph (created on May 30, 2025)—the inaccurate posts have collectively garnered 11,877 interactions as of writing.
