Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi has voted for the retention of Alert Level 2 in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Mayors under the Metro Manila Council voted on what alert level to recommend to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF). The mayors signed Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Resolution No. 22-04, urging the IATF to extend Alert Level 2 in NCR until Feb. 28.
This after the Alert Level 2 status in the NCR will end on Feb. 15 and a new level will be announced by the IATF.
The daily number of active coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Muntinlupa has been below 100 in the last four days.
As of Feb. 13, Muntinlupa has 74 active COVID-19 cases including 15 new cases out of 39,656 confirmed cases, 38,973 recoveries and 609 deaths since 2020.
The Muntinlupa City Health Office (CHO) recorded 99 active COVID-19 cases on Feb. 10, 78 on Feb. 11, 73 on Feb. 12 and 74 on Feb. 13.
Last Feb. 12during the “Laging Handa” public briefing, Health Usec. Maria Rosario Vergeire set the parameters for the Philippines and NCR to be downgraded to Alert Level 1.
“The government is preparing for us to transition into this new normal,” she said but reminded that people should have self-regulation by following minimum public health standards including wearing of face masks, physical distancing, handwashing and avoiding crowded places.
“So, government is now preparing, not only for communities but for all, including establishments, we are preparing for them to be safe spaces for our countrymen. These are being prepared by the national government and slowly in the coming weeks and months we will transition to our new normal if our cases continue to decrease,” said Vergeire.
She said Alert Level 1 is equivalent to the new normal. To shift to Alert Level 1, she said, the country should have a minimal to low risk case trend. She said areas in the Philippines should have cases classified as minimal to low risk.
“So it should be low, our average daily attack rate should be less than 7, our healthcare utilization, hospital use should be low risk to achieve Alert Level 1,” she added.
In addition, she said, the total vaccinations in all regions should be more than 70 percent of the target population and that all spaces such as public spaces, private spaces, workplaces, schools and establishments should be following “safety protocols, ,that’s why we have the safety seal implementation.”
About putting the NCR under Alert Level 1, Vergeire said Metro Manila is still under moderate risk.
“It’s because, even though hospitals are not full, our healthcare utilization is low risk, our case trends are still moderate risk,” she said.
Vergerie said the average daily attack rate in NCR is still at 10.5, “so, we will be closely observing, monitoring if we will see if the case trends will go down in the coming days or weeks for us to say that we can already deescalate.”