Covid-19 subsiding in Philippines drops capital region to Alert Level 2

As Covid-19 infections start to slow in the Philippines, Metro Manila and the capital region will reduce their restriction rating to Alert Level 2 out of 5. The easing will be in effect until November 21 as vaccination rates are increasing and daily infections are subsiding.

The country is still reporting close to 2,000 infections per day, though yesterday say 1,766 and Wednesday dropped to 1,591 new infections. That’s the lowest daily infections numbers since February 24, over 8 months ago according to the Department of Health.

The spokesperson for the Philippines president said that plans are in place for a situational reassessment twice a month. Beginning December 1, the alert level will be evaluated on the 15th and 30th of each month to determine if the level should be increased to stricter regulation, decreased to more relaxed rules, or held steady at the same level. He did warn that if an outbreak or emergency arises, the government reserves the right to immediately increase the alert level, though decreases will only be enacted on the allotted date.

“Escalations, on the other hand, may be done at any time, in the middle of the implementation period, as warranted, while de-escalations can only be done at the end of the two-week assessment period.”

Alert level 2 is the second most relaxed category in the Philippines, assigned to areas with 2 out of 3 metrics are met including low infection rates, decreasing rates, and low hospital occupancy with ICUs less than 50% full. The designation is given to places in a relatively good Covid-19 situation but with the presence of the more transmissible Delta variant.

The lowest risk category, level 1, meets all 3 of the conditions above with no Delta variant infections. Alert level 3 is assigned when less than 70% of ICU beds are occupied, with a lot of Covid or increasing cases and moderate to critical risk. Alert level 4 is when all the 3 metrics above are not met, with many cases and increasing daily infections, where ICUs are more than 70% full.

SOURCE: Asian News Today