Presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion on Monday said that the government should not resort to higher alert levels in case the country’s Covid-19 numbers would start increasing.
In a “Laging Handa” briefing, Concepcion said that while physician groups had been expecting a post-elections surge in Covid-19 cases, tighter alert levels would cause economic implications.
“Hindi natin kayang itaas ang alert level. At sinasabi na namin sa mga ibang medical groups na dapat puwersahin natin iyong booster shots natin. At ngayon, wala nang restrictions dito sa mga restaurants. Maski may vax card o wala, pumapasok na ang mga tao,” he said.
A higher alert level means fewer people allowed in an establishment and fewer establishments allowed to operate.
Concepcion said the country should not panic as long as it has hospital beds available.
“Kahit tumaas iyong infection level, kahit thousands iyan pero iyong hospital capacity natin ay talagang mababa pa rin, dapat tuluy-tuloy pa rin itong Alert Level 1,” he said.
“Katulad sa ibang bansa, mataas iyong infection level pero iyong hospitalization capacity nila ay talagang mababa, hindi sila nagla-lockdown at tuluy-tuloy ang mobility nila,” he added.
The Philippines has 69.3 million fully vaccinated individuals as of May 23.
It has 2,271 active Covid-19 cases. John Ezekiel J. Hirro