Paranaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez, also the chairman of the Metro Manila Council (MMC), announced that all 17 Metro Manila mayors will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 22, to determine whether to maintain the National Capital Region (NCR) under Alert Level 2 or downgrade it to Alert Level 1 starting March 1.
Olivarez made the announcement during the regular virtual flag raising ceremony held at the Paranaque City Hall quadrangle on Monday, Feb. 21.
He said the MMC will convene on Tuesday, together with the Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, to determine the health care utilization, facility rate, and the average daily attack rate (ADAR) before coming up with a recommendation for the new alert level level.
Olivarez explained that under the new normal, the opening of all the activities will already be at 100 percent, but the fight against the COVID-19, especially the more transmissible Omicron variant, will continue.
He said Paranaque City is getting ready to face the new normal based on the report of the City Health Office (CHO) that the city is already at low risk.
The mayor also said the CHO also recorded zero patients at the city’s isolation facilities located at the Paranaque City College (PCC), Airforce One, and in holding areas in the city’s 16 barangays.
Olivarez also said the Ospital ng Paranaque (OSPAR) 2 headed by Dr. Jefferson Pagsisihan which is being used as a treatment and monitoring facility, also recorded zero cases for the past two weeks.