Metro Manila is not yet ready for Alert Level 0.
This is according to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III after he revealed that they are considering an Alert Level 0 amid decreasing COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions in Metro Manila.
"Hindi muna, dahil hindi madaling gawin yan. Dahil marami pang mga katangunan na hindi rin madaling sagutin," Duque said.
(Not yet, because it is not easy to do. This is because we still have a lot of questions that are not easy to answer.)
According to the health secretary, implementing Alert Level 0 is difficult because the Inter-Agency Task Force has yet to come up with guidelines for what could be the least restrictive regulations once implemented.
"Papano 'yung sa masking, magtatanggal na ba tayo niyan? Kung magtatanggal tayo, dahan-dahan ba? Saan-saan tayo magluluwag sa paggamit ng mask?" he said.
(What happens to the mask, will we remove it? If we ditch them, will we do it gradually? Where can we loosen up restrictions on mask-wearing?)
He added that there are also questions on the implementation of hand hygiene as well as on the required adequate ventilation for airflow.
"So marami pa tayong mga technical inputs na binubuo mula sa ating mga eksperto para wag naman mawaldas at masayang ang atin nang natagumpayan sa pandemyang ito," he added.
(So we still coming up with a lot of technical inputs from our experts to ensure that we will not waste what we accomplished so far with the pandemic.)
Duque previously revealed that the government and experts are looking into the possibility of Alert Level 0 due to the improving situation of the country against COVID-19.
The health secretary said that cases and healthcare utilization rates have been going down, following an onslaught from the Omicron variant that drove new COVID-19 infections to record highs.
According to Duque, they are hoping that the improving situation will continue to allow the economy to reopen further and resolve problems caused by the pandemic.
"Sana bumaba pa rin para mas kampante tayo na mas madagdagan ang mga pagluluwag o opening up ng mga restrictions para mas malaking bahagi ng ekonomiya rin ang pwedeng magbukas at masalba ang mga trabaho at matugunan ang kagutuman ang kahirapan na naidulot ng pandemyang COVID-19," he said.
(Hopefully, they continue to go down so we can be more confident in easing more restrictions in order for a bigger part of the economy to be reopened, save jobs, and address the hunger and poverty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.)
The Philippines in its weekly bulletin said there are 4,131 new COVID-19 cases reported from March 7 to 13, with an average of 590 new cases per day.
