Entire Philippines under Alert Level 2 until December 15

MANILA, Philippines — The entire country is under Alert Level 2, the second most lenient classification under the five-level COVID-19 alert system, until Dec. 15, Malacañang said yesterday.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved on Thursday the downgrading of Apayao from Alert Level 3 to 2 from Dec. 3 to 15.

“This means that as of today, no province or city is under Alert Level 3. The entire country is under Alert Level 2,” Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles told a press briefing. “I hope this will continue to make Christmas truly happy for our countrymen.”

Nograles said the IATF amended the metrics for the alert level classifications of provinces, highly urbanized cities and independent component cities.

“Amendments include removing the one-week growth rate as a metric for escalation from Alert Level 1 to Alert Level 2, the escalation of areas under Alert Level 1 to Alert Level 2 if either case classification or total COVID-19 bed utilization increases to moderate risk or higher, and the escalation of areas under Alert Level 2 to Alert Level 3 if both case classification and total COVID-19 bed utilization are at moderate risk or if case classification is at high to critical risk,” he explained.

Nograles said local government units should immediately impose granular lockdowns if they detect clustering of cases in their areas amid the threat of the Omicron variant.

Department of Health-Epidemiology Bureau director Alethea de Guzman called on the public to continue to observe minimum health standards during the holiday season.

Under Alert Level 2, the maximum operational capacity for businesses and activities is 50 percent for indoor venues, fully vaccinated persons and those below 18 years old, including those unvaccinated.

Outdoor venues can open to up to 70 percent capacity provided all workers of the establishments are fully inoculated against COVID-19.