The COVID-19 alert level in the National Capital Region starting March will be known either on Saturday or Sunday, an official of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said Friday.
Interviewed on ANC, MMDA officer-in-charge and general manager Romando Artes said presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles will make the announcement.
“Decisions were made but as the usual protocol, it will be Secretary Karlo Nograles who will announce the decision probably by Saturday or Sunday because there are some guidelines being finalized before the proper announcement,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded another 1,671 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Friday, slightly lower than the 1,745 new cases reported on Thursday based on the latest case tracker.
This is the seventh consecutive day of new cases below 2,000, with the country logging its lowest daily cases for this year at 1,019 on February 22.
Artes said he attended the Thursday meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), where the metrics to qualify for de-escalation to Alert Level 1 have been adjusted.
Despite the changes, he said the NCR is still good for the lowest alert level classification, saying Metro Manila was “already qualified.”
Secretary Eduardo Año of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) echoed this Friday, as the IATF is set to finalize the metrics for areas that will be downgraded to Alert Level 1.
Based on the metrics, Año said the NCR is qualified to be downgraded from Alert Level 2 but the question on the region’s readiness for the major shift remains as some sectors raised concerns this may cause another COVID-19 surge.
“Second, of course, it needs the approval of the President (Rodrigo Duterte) on that since Alert Level 1 is a major shift from Alert Level 2, so we have yet to finalize it,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the 36th EDSA People Power Revolution anniversary rites at the People Power Monument.
Asked if the adjustment means the IATF approved the shift to Alert Level 1, as recommended by Metro Manila mayors, the MMDA chief said it would apply to all, as many areas also qualified for Alert Level 1 aside from the NCR.
“Not necessarily, not NCR alone, because I think there are also a lot of places that qualify for de-escalation to Alert Level 1,” he added.
But Artes clarified there would still be minimum public health standards and protocols in place.
“All possible restrictions under Alert Level 1 will be discussed by the technical working group for submission to the IATF,” he added.
Under Alert Level 1, intrazonal and interzonal travel shall be allowed without regard to age and comorbidities. All establishments, persons, or activities are allowed to operate, work, or be undertaken at full on-site or venue/seating capacity provided it is consistent with minimum public health standards.
Año said it would be best to wait for President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement whether to approve or not the Alert Level 1 de-escalation in Metro Manila and other parts of the country.
“A presentation will be made this Saturday and a referendum on the data analytics. Then we will recommend to the President which areas may be deescalated to Alert Level 1,’’ he added.
With regards to the start of the local election campaign on March 25, Año clarified that Commission on Election (Comelec) Resolution 10732 is anchored on the country’s alert level system.
“In case of areas under Alert Level 1, the capacity will be limited to 70 percent both for indoors and outdoors campaign activities,’’ he said.
However, Año said the IATF is discussing matters on whether only vaccinated individuals against Covid-19 will be allowed to participate
in election campaign activities.
The DOH also reported 1,586 new recoveries from COVID-19, lower than Thursday’s 2,045 new recoveries, bringing the country’s total to 3,547,528 or 97 percent of 3,658,892 total confirmed cases.
The number of active cases has reached 55,140 or 1.5 percent of all confirmed cases. Of the active cases, about 91.8 percent have shown mild symptoms or asymptomatic.
More specifically, there are 49,988 cases with mild symptoms, those with moderate symptoms at 2,784, those with severe symptoms at 1,424, the asymptomatic at 645, and those in critical condition at 299.
It reported 59 new deaths, bringing the country’s total to 56,224 or 1.54 percent of all confirmed cases.
Based on the latest testing data, there were 28,039 COVID-19 tests administered on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 5.6 percent.
The country’s health care utilization rate is currently low, with about 3,800 beds at intensive care units (ICU) at 28 percent occupancy, 20,400 isolation beds at 24 percent occupancy, 14,300 ward beds at 17 percent occupancy, and 15 percent of 3,100 ventilators are in use.
In the National Capital Region alone, there are 1,300 ICU beds at 27 percent occupancy, 4,600 isolation beds at 23 percent occupancy, 4,000
ward beds at 25 percent occupancy, and 17 percent of 1,000 ventilators are in use.