Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said the government must not be complacent in enforcing health protocols should the country be downgraded to Alert Level Zero for a continuous improvement in the Philippine economy.
In a virtual Laging Handa briefing on Monday, March 14, Concepcion said rolling out Alert Level Zero will "boost" the confidence of the government as more restrictions will be eased.
"Under Alert Level Zero, basically what happens is it will boost confidence that the Philippines has been able to achieve, moving away from a pandemic," Concepcion said.
Concepcion also cited the combined efforts of the public and private sectors in the implementation of Covid-19 vaccination programs which he said have greatly contributed to the safe and gradual opening of the economy.
However, Concepcion noted that the government, as well as the public, should not be complacent should the Alert Level Zero be implemented.
"It doesn’t mean that we have to be complacent. We should ensure that hospital capacity is further strengthened, our health care workers are ready in the event that there will be another variant that may come in," he said.
"So, we should not look at it as complete victory, I mean business victory, at this point in time," he added.
The Go Negosyo founder likewise emphasized the need for the continuous rollout of vaccination efforts, particularly for booster shots, to ensure the public's immunity against other Covid-19 variants.
"The bakuna (vaccination) program should not stop, especially the boosters. We are still very far from our targets on booster. Importante iyong booster program natin para sa mga tao (Our booster program is very important), to continue the wall of immunity," he explained.
"The primary doses will start waning for those who got it earlier, so importante ngayon itong mga boosters nation (that's why booster shots are important)," Concepcion added.
The government’s pandemic task force had earlier announced that it would discuss the parameters of an Alert Level Zero as the number of Covid-19 cases in the country continues to drop and critical indicators, such as healthcare utilization rate, remain in the low-risk classification.
OCTA Research had recently released a ranking of Covid-19 numbers in East Asia. As of March 9, the Philippines is in the “very low” risk classification of ADAR (average daily attack rate, or infections per 100,000 population) at 0.68, with a seven-day average of only 766 infections.