The Metro Manila Council is urging the Inter-Agency Task Force to extend the Alert Level 2 in the National Capital Region (NCR) until the end of the month amid concerns of super spreader events because of the election campaign period.
"A less stringent alert level in the NCR may potentially result in super spreader events in the region especially with the start of the May 2022 election campaign period," the council said in its Resolution No. 22-04, which was signed by all Metro Manila Mayors.
According to the council, while recent COVID-related data are "truly encouraging" and reflect an improving pandemic situation in the NCR, they are still waiting for risk classifications in Metro Manila cities to further improve.
"There is an urgent need to further await an improvement in the risk classifications of the 12 Metro Manila Local Government Units which are presently under Moderate Risk Classification," it said.
It added that the economic gains over the past weeks under the current Alert Level must be maintained.
"The economic gains and advancement in health care which we realized in the past weeks under Alert Level 2 must be preserved, maintained, and improved."
The Hospital Care Utilization Rate and the COVID-19 Bed Utilization Rate in the NCR are both on a "downward trend" as of February 10, according to the Department of Health.
Only five LGUs in NCR are also in Low-Risk Classification, while the rest are under Moderate based on the growth rate and average daily attack rate of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the NCR has reported 558 new COVID-19 cases as of February 13, with OCTA fellow Guido David saying it is still "relatively high" compared to the national caseload of 3,050 new infections.
