FILE PHOTO/ INQUIRER, NINO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — The decision on the next alert level status in the capital region will be up to health experts as decided by Metro Manila mayors, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Benhur Abalos said on Thursday.
“The Metro Manila mayors would defer to the wisdom and knowledge of the health experts on the imposition of the next alert level status in the National Capital Region,” Abalos said in a statement.
“In this case, we leave it up to the decision of the Department of Health, which assesses the COVID-19 situation in the country, factoring in the shift of use of RT-PCR test to antigen test, which is yet to be included in their daily bulletin update,” he added.
However, Abalos noted that mayors are hopeful that the alert status would be more relaxed but trusts health experts to finalize the verdict.
“While the local chief executives are hopeful that the alert level will be downgraded since the number of reported cases are decreasing in the past few days, they leave the decision to the capable hands of the health experts as peoples’ lives are of primordial importance while at the same time calibrating the economy,” said Abalos.
Metro Manila is under Alert Level 4 from September 16 to 30 in a bid to spur the economy while managing COVID-19 cases.
READ: NCR under Alert Level 4 Sept. 16-30 for granular lockdown tests
Based on granular lockdown guidelines, areas under Alert Level 4 — the second highest alert level — means that they have high and/or increasing COVID-19 infections and high total bed and intensive care unit utilization rates.
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