Philippines man dies after being forced to do 300 squats for breaking Covid-19 curfew

A man in the Philippines has died after being forced to do 300 squats for breaching Covid curfews

On April 1, Darren Manaog Peñaredondo, 28, was stopped by police and told to do "pumping exercises" 100 times after he left his home in General Trias, a city in Cavite province, to buy water, his family said, according to CNN and their affiliate CNN Philippines.

The province is currently under lockdown due to rising Covid-19 cases.

In total, Peñaredondo ended up doing around 300 repetitions after the police made him repeat the exercises.

"He started to convulse on Saturday, but we were able to revive him at home. Then his body failed so we revived him again, but he was already comatose," his family said, according to the report.

Peñaredondo died at 10pm, the family said.

According to the report, the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the mayor of General Trias city have ordered an investigation into Peñaredondo’s death.

With more than 819,000 infections and 14,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, the Philippines has one of the highest reported Covid-19 case rate of any country in Asia.

Last month, cases in the country rose sharply, causing the authorities to order more than 25 million people into lockdown -- including those in Cavite province.

The Philippines have been taking tough measures to contain the spread of infections. The Human Rights Watch highlighted reports that officials had locked five youths inside a dog cage for violating quarantine. They also reportedly forced people to sit in the midday sun as punishment for breaching a curfew.

Between March and August last year, nearly 290,000 people were warned, fined or charged for violating quarantine rules, CNN Philippines reported.

Back in April last year, President Rodrigo Duterte threatened that police would shoot dead anyone who violated virus restrictions. "I will not hesitate. My orders are to the police, the military and the barangays: If they become unruly and they fight you and your lives are endangered, shoot them dead," Duterte said during a speech.