Concepcion: Alert Level 3 in Metro Manila ‘sufficient’ at this time

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion. (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Keeping Metro Manila under Alert Level 3 is “sufficient” for now, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said Monday amid talks on possible placement of the capital region under a stricter Alert Level 4.

Concepcion said that people are not going out anyway due to the threat of the Omicron variant.

“Alert Level 3 at this point in time, to me, is sufficient. People are not going out on top of that. I mean, you have people who just don’t want to go out. The Omicron spread is just tremendous,” Concepcion said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.

“So my point being is that mobility in the fourth quarter was really high, [but] mobility in this first quarter we go down,” he added.

Nonetheless, Concepcion agrees that “there’s no recourse but to move to Alert Level 4” if the hospitals become overwhelmed due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

“Can it be overwhelmed? It’s possible, maybe if the surge goes up to 40,000 cases, 35,000 cases, but from what I know many people are just staying at home and getting well,” Concepcion said.

Concepcion pointed out that placing Metro Manila under Alert Level 4 will also have an impact on businesses.

“Businesses are already slow. Things will just get slower. According to our economist, they’re looking at P3 billion a month. I don’t know if it’s that huge,” Concepcion said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said that the healthcare utilization in Metro Manila has not yet reached the threshold required for Alert Level 4 but noted that this may rapidly increase.

Alert Level 4, the second-highest in the country’s COVID-19 alert level system, can be declared in areas where case counts are high and increasing and where the total bed utilization rate and intensive care unit utilization rate are also high.

gsg