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Friday, March 29, 2024

NCR may drop to Alert Level 1

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Palace says likely if cases further decline, IATF decision set before Feb. 16

Metro Manila could be placed under the most lenient Alert Level 1 if new COVID-19 cases continue to decline in the coming days, the Palace said Wednesday.

ALL ABOARD. A child who has just received her first dose of Pfizer’s reformulated COVID-19 vaccine for kids is surrounded by cosplayers while aboard a Vax Train (below) at SM City East Ortigas in Pasig City. Norman Cruz

In a radio interview, acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles said key officials of the government’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) will do a preliminary assessment of Metro Manila’s COVID-19 situation on Thursday.

It will be followed by a meeting on either Feb. 12 or Feb. 13, to discuss the latest COVID-19 data and numbers in different regions, including the National Capital Region (NCR).

“What we want to do in the IATF is to make an assessment closer to Feb. 16 so that we can see the latest numbers to make a final decision for the alert level system from Feb. 16 until the end of the month,” Nograles said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) officer-in-charge and general manager, Romando Artes, said Metro Manila mayors are ready to ease the restrictions within their respective local government units (LGUs) but are still waiting for the final guidelines from the IATF.

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“We are expecting that we will soon deescalate to Alert Level 1. Our mayors are ready for the opening of various industries and sectors in Metro Manila,” he said in a television interview on Tuesday.

Once COVID-19 cases continue to go down, Artes said the Metro Manila Council will request placing NCR to Alert Level 1.

Metro Manila, including Batanes, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal in Luzon; Biliran and Southern Leyte in the Visayas; and Basilan in Mindanao, are under Alert Level 2 until Feb. 15.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), meanwhile, said it supported calls to downgrade the quarantine status to Alert Level 1 to open more businesses and to bring back more jobs as COVID-19 cases decline.

In an interview with radio dzBB, Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said should the country shift to Alert Level 1, which is the lowest in the alert level system, it has to be done slowly as there is still the lingering threat of COVID-19.

The Philippines logged 3,651 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total case count to 3,623,176. It was the second straight day the tally fell below 5,000, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.

The positivity rate was at 16.5 percent, based on 29,970 people tested for COVID-19 on Feb. 7. This was slightly higher than the 16.3 percent positivity rate on Tuesday. Both are higher than the World Health Organization’s target of less than 5 percent positivity rate.

There were 69 new fatalities reported, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 54,690.

The DOH also reported 12,834 new recoveries, bringing the total recoveries to 3,472,160.

There were 96,326 active cases, of which 4,150 were asymptomatic; 87,385 were mild; 3,029 were moderate; 1,447 were severe, and 315 were critical.

Nationwide, 40 percent of ICU beds, 36 percent of isolation beds, 32 percent of ward beds, and 19 percent of ventilators, were in use.

In Metro Manila, 32 percent of ICU beds, 29 percent of isolation beds, 30 percent of ward beds, and 18 percent of ventilators, were in use.
The independent OCTA Research Group said it saw downward trends in eight highly urbanized cities.

OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David, in a tweet, said these were Angeles, Baguio City, Dagupan, Lucena, Naga City, Olongapo, Puerto Princesa, and Santiago.

David said, at present, Baguio City and Puerto Princesa are at high risk with an average daily attack rate of 31.28 per 100,000 population and 8.04 per 100,000 population, respectively.

Baguio has a reproduction number of 0.54 and a positivity rate of 28 percent, while Puerto Princesa has a reproduction number of 1.37 and a positivity rate of 100 percent.

The reproduction number refers to the number of people infected by one case. A reproduction number below 1 indicates that the transmission of the virus is slowing down.

Meanwhile, Angeles, Dagupan, Lucena, Naga, Olongapo, and Santiago remained at moderate risk for COVID-19.

David advised the public to continue observing minimum health standards.

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