Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said on Monday that he would recommend lifting the country's COVID-19 public health emergency.&nbsp;
In May, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that COVID-19 no longer represented a global health emergency.
Herbosa told reporters that COVID-19 could now be treated as any other disease like influenza, cough, and cold and no longer posed an emergency.&nbsp;
"Actually, wala nang emergency, 'di ba?... I think I will ask the lifting of the public health emergency in the country," Herbosa said in an mabush interview.&nbsp;
However, he noted that the alert level system would remain.&nbsp;
"The alert level system will stay kasi it&rsquo;s the system like the typhoon signal that stays. But actually hindi na siya public health emergency. Wala nang public health emergency. It&rsquo;s just one of the diseases being monitored just like influenza, cough, colds, etcetera," he continued.&nbsp;
The WHO first declared public health emergency of international concern over COVID-19 on Jan. 30, 2020.
And just months after, in March 2020, then President Rodrigo Duterte signed Proclamation No. 922, which declared a state of public health emergency in the country due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Based on DOH's COVID-19 tracker, the Philippines has 8,244 active cases as of June 25, 2023.&nbsp;

you might like

Herbosa mulls lifting COVID-19 health emergency