Metro Manila is already “ripe” for Alert Level 1 as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation in the capital region continues to improve, Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III said.
"Ang NCR pasado na sa kanilang mga metrics– hinog in other words. So iyong kanilang two-week growth rate nasa negative na, tapos iyong average daily attack rate nila nasa moderate risk (The NCR already passed their metrics– ripe in other words. So their two-week growth rate is negative and their average daily attack rate is at moderate risk)," said Duque during the Laging Handa briefing on Thursday, Feb. 24.
"Kapag ibinangga mo iyong dalawa, ang katumbas is a low risk classification; samantalang ang kanilang health care utilization rate naman ay below 30 percent so mababa din, low risk (When you analyze the two factors, the equivalent is a low risk classification; while their healthcare utilization rate is below 30 percent-- so it is also at low risk)," he added.
Metro Manila has also vaccinated at least 83 percent of its senior citizens or those under the A2 priority group. Before an area can be de-escalated to Alert Level 1, it should have already vaccinated 80 percent of its senior citizen population and 70 percent of its total target population, said Duque.
“Well itong—sa Metro Manila natin, ang A2 target population ay 1,222,154. Ang number ng fully vaccinated nasa 1.025 million— NCR lang ang pinag-uusapan muna natin dito, na mayroon nang 83.90 percent coverage. So sa kanilang pangkalahatan naman, iyong target population lampas na sila sa 80 percent (Well, in Metro Manila, the A2 target population is 1,222,154. The number of fully vaccinated is 1.025 million — we are only talking about NCR here, which has 83.90 percent coverage. Meanwhile, their overall coverage for their target population is over 80 percent),” he said.
“In fact, ang NCR 100 percent nga of its target population ano, fully vaccinated – ito ay 101.66 percent to be exact. So, iyan ang kanilang estado (NCR has already vaccinated 100 percent of its target population---fully vaccinated - this is 101.66 percent to be exact. So, that is their situation right now) which means they are truly and genuinely ripe for de-escalation,” he added.
Despite the encouraging numbers, members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) need to discuss this before coming up with a decision whether or not to downgrade the alert status of Metro Manila, said Duque.
‘Be cautious’
Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) President Dr. Maricar Limpin, meanwhile, reminded the government to be “cautious” in downgrading the alert status.
“I think the data that we are seeing now as far as COVID-19 cases—are very encouraging and the data point to the potential of really–the country being able to downgrade the alert level system to Alert Level 1,” she said during a forum hosted by Go Negosyo on Thursday.
“However, I think we still have to be a little bit more cautious when we try to downgrade this to Alert Level 1. We have to bear in mind that when we downgrade it, that would mean we can expect more people going out, thus, let’s expect overcrowding which will re-down basically to the removal of physical distancing,” she added.
Limpin said that some people become complacent when the alert level is being shifted to a lower status.
“Unfortunately, as we have seen in the past with the easing up of restrictions, people tend not to follow the minimum public health standards even with just the very simple wearing of the face mask,” she said.
“There is no argument as far as the healthcare professionals are concerned. We are one with everybody in looking forward to being able to live with the virus. However, we just have to learn how to live with the virus in a much safer environment,” she added.
Duque, for his part, believes that the people already know the importance of following the health protocols.
“Well, may mga ilan siguro pero malaking bahagi ng populasyon ng NCR ay okay naman ang kanilang masking rate, porsyento ng sumusunod sa mga panuntunan ng Department of Health at ng IATF. At ito’y nasasalamin sa kanilang mababang risk classification, as a low risk as I have said (Well, there are some people maybe, but a large part of the NCR population has a high masking rate or the percentage of those following the protocols set by the Department of Health and the IATF. And this is reflected in their risk classification which is at low risk as I have said),” he said.