A public health expert on Wednesday, Nov. 10, warned the government against easing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions too soon, citing the possible rise in infections anew.

In an interview over TeleRadyo, Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) President Dr. Maricar Limpin said lowering the alert level in Metro Manila should happen "slowly."
"Siguro medyo masyadong mabilis yung pagpapababa sa Alert Level 1. Less than 1,000 , medyo marami pa rin yun lalo ngayon dumadami ang mga tao na lumalabas, masyadong sumisikip ang spaces and possibility na magkaroon ng trasnmission ay pwedeng tumaas. Hinay-hinay muna tayo (Lowering Metro Manila's alert level to Alert Level 1 is a bit too fast. Less than 1,000 cases is still a lot, especially now that a lot of people are going out and spaces are becoming too crowded. Our infection rate can still increase. Let's slow down first)," Limpin said.
"Siguraduhin muna natin na patuloy na bababa na ang COVID-19, hindi yung bumaba lang nang 1,000, ico-consider na agad natin. Remember, noon bumabab rin nang less than 1,000 tapos umakyat dahil sa dami ng tao ang nasa labas. Yun yung ating pangamba sa pagbaba sa Alert Level 1 (Let's first make sure that our cases continue to go down, we should not be complacent just because we've been tallying over a thousand cases the past few days. Remember, our cases also went down by 1,000 and it eventually went up again because of the number of people going out. That's our fear)," she underscored.
Limpin also reminded parents to continue being cautious as children are now allowed in public areas.
"Ang worry lang namin itong mga batang ito, hindi pa ho bakunado. So ang chance na makakalap sila ng infection, ay napakataas (The only thing we worry about is these unvaccinated children, there's a chance that they will get infected with the virus)," she noted.
On Tuesday, Nov. 9, Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque said Metro Manila may be placed under Alert Level 2 if the nationwide daily COVID-19 cases go down to just 500 to less than 1,000.
Metro Manila is currently under Alert Level 2 until Nov. 21.