Bulacan, Cavite, and Rizal have joined the National Capital Region (NCR) in the heightened classification of alert level 3 in connection with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
This was announced Tuesday morning, Jan. 4, by Cabinet Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles.
"Due to a sharp increase of COVID-19 cases in the particular localities, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) approved yesterday, Jan. 3, 2022, the recommendation of its sub-Technical Working Group on Data Analytics to escalate Bulacan, Cavite, and Rizal to alert level 3," he said.
"This shall take effect from Jan. 5, 2022, until Jan. 15, 2022," added Nograles, who also serves as IATF spokesperson.
The entire Philippines was under alert level 2 last week. This changed Monday, Jan. 3, when the NCR or Metro Manila was escalated to alert level 3.
Save for NCR, Bulacan, Cavite, and Rizal, the rest of the Philippines remain under alert level 2--the second most lenient classification under the Alert Level System (ALS) for COVID-19 response.
Nograles had earlier said that the IATF won't hesitate to escalate the classification of cities and provinces if they find the need for it, especially amid the current surge on daily new COVID-19 infections.