Presidential adviser hopes indoor dining capacity will eventually increase

(FILE) An outdoor dining setup at SM City Taytay in Rizal province amid quarantine restrictions. RICHARD A. REYES / INQUIRER

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion hopes that the 10-percent indoor dining services capacity for vaccinated persons in areas under alert level 4 will eventually increase.

At the Laging Handa public briefing on Saturday, Concepcion noted that the government needs to implement “baby steps” in relaxing restrictions amid the surge of COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant.

“Hopefully tataas ‘yan (that will increase). If everything goes smoothly, tataas ‘yan (that will increase) to 20 percent and eventually 30 percent,” he said.

“But at least naumpisahan na natin. Makikita natin kung may mga problema, kung mas maraming mahahawa dito sa vaccinated. Pero maski mahawa ‘yung vaccinated kasi halos [lahat] sila will be treated at home,” he added.

(But at least we have already started it. We will see if there will be problems and if more vaccinated individuals will be infected. But even though vaccinated people get infected, most of them will only be treated at home.)

Concepcion said the public should not be alarmed if cases will increase but most of the patients are vaccinated.

“Maski tumataas ang kaso at 10,000 to 20,000 cases daily, we should not get scared kasi kung bakunado lahat ‘yan hindi ‘yan pupunta sa hospital. May kaunting porsyento ang pupunta sa hospital,” the presidential adviser said.

(Even if new cases increase from 10,000 to 20,000, we should not get scared. If these patients are vaccinated, only a small percentage will be admitted to hospitals.)

“Tuloy ang negosyo, tuloy ang pagbubukas ng economy and then we do it safely. Halos ang mga pupunta diyan sa hospital will eventually be much less,” he added.

(Business will continue. Reopening of the economy will continue and we can do it safely. The number of people who go to hospitals will eventually be much less.)

Under alert level 4, outdoor dine-in services in restaurants and eateries are only allowed at 30 percent venue capacity. Meanwhile, indoor dine-in services are allowed to open at 10 percent capacity, but they may only cater to persons fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Metro Manila was placed under alert level 4 from September 16 until September 30 amid the pilot testing of the granular lockdowns in the country.

/MUF