Christmas holidays will be different amid the global health crisis, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez said on Wednesday.

“It would be a subdued Christmas; less of the big reunions, more of intimate reunions,” Lopez said in an interview with ANC.

He said mass gatherings will still be prohibited due to risk of spreading the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

There will be more virtual reunions than physical get-together during Christmas season, he added.

Lopez said going to the mall to shop for gifts will not be like the previous Christmas holidays.

The DTI chief said whether the government will maintain or further relax community quarantine status, it is important that Filipinos continue to observe minimum health protocols.

“What I’m just saying is, we can live in a scenario of GCQ (general community quarantine), we can live in a scenario of MGCQ (modified general community quarantine). The most important thing is, we continue to enforce the law. We will continue to observe minimum health standards and self-discipline,” he said.

Lopez said the difference between GCQ and MGCQ is that more establishments will be able to open in the latter community quarantine status.

“I’m not too concerned anymore with the community quarantine. What’s important is the behavior, the discipline of the citizenry that we are seeing right now. But MGCQ will allow us longer operating hours that will be helpful for the workers and the business sector. We will be moving back closer to the normal but it’s a different normal, it’s the new normal,” he added. (PNA)