Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III announced Thursday that the government is looking at the possibility of relaxing the country’s Covid-19 status to “Alert Level 0,” since some areas are now under Alert Level 1.
Duque explained that for six consecutive days, the country has posted less than 1,000 cases with the National Capital Region (NCR) and 38 more areas nationwide are under Alert Level 1 until March 15.
“So far, so good naman ‘yung ating Alert Level 1. Kahit na maximum, 100% capacity na ang mga establisyemento, patuloy naman na bumababa ang ating mga kaso. Anim na araw na tayo na below 1,000 cases daily,” he said during a virtual briefing.
“Hopefully, mapababa pa natin ito ng 500 or even less on a daily basis para talagang, malay natin baka pwede nang magde-escalate sa Alert Level 0,” he added.
The elements of the Alert Level 0 will still be finalized by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, in partnership with other government advisers.
“Ano ba ang elements ng Alert Level 0? Kasi may mga tanong halimbawa, sa Alert Level 0, pwede na bang magtanggal ng mask? Pwede na bang ‘wag nang sumunod sa hand hygiene? ‘Yung mga ventilations, supisyente ba?” he said.
The expert panels and technical advisory group are set to release recommendations to the IATF in the coming days regarding the unanswered questions.
Earlier, the health chief said that the whole country is not yet ready to shift to Alert Level 1 since there are some areas that have yet to meet the above conditions of the IATF. Ronald Espartinez