Will Metro Manila's alert level status be downgraded in the next Nov. 15 quarantine period?
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benhur Abalos, who serves as the coordinator of all mayors in the National Capital Region (NCR) amid their COVID-19 response, believes so.
In a radio interview Thursday, Abalos hinted that the shifting of the region's alert level status "is actually near," citing Metro Manila's current COVID-19 situation.
In fact, he said, the region should have been placed under Alert Level 2, instead of being retained under Alert Level 3, on Nov. 1 if Metro Manila's daily attack rate was lower by 0.4 percent.
"Yung pong tinatawag na metrics na sinasabi nila...lahat pasado eh (We passed the metrics to relax our Alert Level)," Abalos said, referring to the region's current intensive care unit and isolation wards availabilty and the number of active cases.
"(Pero) tinamaan tayo... 'yung daily attack rate (But we just fell short in terms of meeting the acceptable average daily attack rate or ADAR)," he added.
According to Abalos, Metro Manila's latest ADAR was at 7.4, which was only a little more than the acceptable 7 percent ADAR to be declared under Alert Level 2.
"Ang problema, ang (The problem was the) cut off rate was 7... So ako naniniwala talaga papunta na tayo roon. At di lamang yun, yung bakuna natin (I believe, we're going there. Aside from that, our vaccination rate), we're now 87 percent," he added.