President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Wednesday revealed that he is considering the extension of the state of public health emergency in the country until the end of 2022.
The health emergency was declared in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic by Marcos' predecessor former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
"Yes, we were just discussing it with Usec. [Maria Rosario] Vergeire because maraming mga binibigay sa international medical community kapag state of emergency. WHO (World Health Organization) is one of them," the Chief Executive, who has yet to name his DOH chief, said during the PinasLakas vaccination event in Manila.
"At kung itigil natin ‘yung state of emergency, matitigil ‘yun. But if we can change — we are looking at amending the law in terms of procurement and all of that in the middle of an emergency," he added.
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a national public agency of the United States, classified the Philippines as “high risk” of COVID-19 due to the reported high cases.
On the website of CDC, the country was categorized at level 3: high level of COVID-19.
Under its travel health guidelines for passengers, it stated that they must ensure that their COVID-19 vaccines are updated before traveling to the Philippines.
The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday recorded 2,633 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country’s caseload to 3,838,062.
