President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has placed 32 areas under COVID-19 Alert Level 2 from November 1 to 15, the Department of Health said on Monday.
Some 89 out of 121 provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities, on the other hand, including the whole of Metro Manila, were placed under Alert Level 1, the loosest of a 5-tier alert system.
“This means that our key indicators, such as the healthcare utilization rate (HCUR), are showing improvements. We attribute this development to every Filipino who continues to cooperate with our COVID-19 response,” DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a statement.
“But while we see a continuous decline in case and admission trends, we must remember that de-escalation does not mean that the battle with COVID-19 is already over. These current numbers are not permanent; we must all work together to maintain these low numbers,” she added.
The following areas have been placed under Alert Level 2 from Nov. 1 to 15:
• For Luzon: Cordillera Administrative Region, Benguet, Ifugao, Calabarzon, Quezon Province, Mimaropa, Palawan, Bicol Region, Camarines Norte, and Masbate;
• For Visayas: Western Visayas, Antique, Negros Occidental, Central Visayas, Bohol, Cebu Province, Negros Oriental, Eastern Visayas, Leyte, Northern Samar, and Western Samar; and
• For Mindanao: Zamboanga Peninsula, City of Isabela, Zamboanga Del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Northern Mindanao, Lanao del Norte, Davao Region, Davao De Oro, Davao Del Norte, Davao Del Sur, Davao Occidental, Soccsksargen, North Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, Caraga, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, Basilan, Lanao Del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-tawi.
Alert Level 2 allows face-to-face classes, dine-in services, religious gatherings, and personal care services, among others for fully vaccinated individuals at 50 percent of indoor venue capacity, the DOH said.
Meanwhile, the whole of Metro Manila and the rest of the country are under Alert Level 1.
Alert Level 1 allows all establishments to operate at 100 percent capacity, including other mass gatherings, but only for those with full vaccination status.
The government has set a 5-tier COVID-19 alert system since last year after doing away with the previous quarantine classifications.
As this developed, data by independent monitoring OCTA Research Group showed the seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate in the National Capital Region further declined to 10 percent while those in six other areas increased.
OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David said Metro Manila’s positivity rate decreased to 10 percent on October 29, from 12.3 percent on October 22.
Six areas in the country, however, showed an increase in positivity rates from October 22 to October 29, namely Benguet, Cebu, Iloilo, Isabela, Misamis Oriental, Negros Occidental.
A big jump was recorded in Benguet from 7 percent to 21.1 percent during the same period.
Vergeire reiterated the need to strengthen public capacity for risk assessment and highlighted the different layers of protection that can be used to limit transmission.
“As we continue to ease restrictions to help the economy, local governments have a greater responsibility to ensure that the number of cases in their areas remains low, especially during Undas and the Christmas season when we expect an influx of people.”
“We call on LGUs to boost our strategies and policies against COVID-19, including vaccination, isolation when one is sick, social distancing, and proper ventilation, especially now that we have eased our masking mandates,” she said.
“To our public, now that we can remove our face masks in various settings, it is very important that we do a risk assessment before removing our masks.”
“Let us ask ourselves: Are we vaccinated? Is the place crowded? Are we with an elderly, pregnant, sick, or someone who is immunocompromised in case we get sick? We all have to ask ourselves these questions before we decide it is safe for us to remove our masks,” Vergeire added.