The Department of Health (DOH) said it is recommending that all areas in the country remain under Alert Level 2 in January amid the threat of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

“Our recommendation, if it's just going to be DOH to decide, our recommendation would be— to retain the Alert Level 2...Although most of areas in the country can be eligible already for Alert level 1 because they have high vaccination coverage, low case trend, their hospitals are not full...but with the threat of the Omicron variant, we would just like to be cautious,” said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Tuesday, Dec. 28, in a television interview.

“We do not want to ease so much in our restrictions, we just want to have this safe level in Alert level 2 so we can still prevent the entry of this Omicron variant into our community,” she added.

Vergeire noted that the majority of the areas in the Philippines remain under “minimal risk case classification.”

“Our case trend—although has increased a little— but most of the areas still have minimal risk case classification...And what would be most important would be— all over the country, in all areas of the country---our hospital capacity remains to be at low risk,” she said.

“Meaning, this uptick in the number of cases has not translated into our hospitals having higher admissions for COVID-19 patients,” she added.

Vergeire said that the public should not be alarmed yet with this slight uptick in cases. However, they should remain vigilant and strictly adhere to the health protocols.

“For now, I would not like to alarm people. I would not like people to fear or to panic. What we all need to do---we should all be cautious and aware that cases are having this slight increase,” she said.

“We should be recognizing the fact that the virus is still here, although it is Christmas time or holiday season---we still need to comply with our safety protocols and get vaccinated as soon as you are eligible,” she added.