Marcos keeps COVID-19 alert level scheme for now
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has decided to keep the country’s COVID-19 alert level system for now, Malacañang announced Tuesday.
The chief executive, however, is eyeing to reclassify restrictions “that are compatible with the current milder strains that afflict the patients,” Palace said in a release.
“To avoid confusion, we will retain the alert level system for now. We are, however, thinking, we are studying very closely, and we’ll come to a decision very soon as to decoupling the restrictions from the alert levels,” Marcos said during a meeting with Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, officer-in-charge of the Department of Health.
Vergeire said the health agency could release new classifications by the second week of August, noting that mid-August is a “suitable period” to loosen up.
Metro Manila remains under Alert Level 1, along with most provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities. Under Alert Level 1, all establishments or activities are allowed to operate or be undertaken at full onsite or venue capacity.
In September 2021, the alert level system, which has five tiers, replaced the quarantine classification comprised of enhanced community quarantine, modified ECQ, general community quarantine, and modified GCQ.
The alert level of an area is based on the average daily attack rate and the healthcare utilization rate.
Changes in IATF
According to the Palace release, the DOH is also reconstituting the member agencies of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to only those with relevant and intended functions.
Citing Vergeire, it added that IATF meetings and processes will be streamlined, and will utilize the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) platform that will replace the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) to integrate it with the regular processes.
The Philippines is currently seeing a renewed spike in COVID-19 cases, fueled by the presence of highly contagious variants, increased mobility, and waning vaccine immunity.
From July 11 to 17, the country recorded 14,640 additional COVID-19 infections—or an average of 2,091 cases a day. Infections rose by 44% in the last seven days.
Despite the increase in cases, the healthcare utilization rate nationwide remained low.
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