IATF may decide on Metro Manila new alert level over the weekend
In this photo taken on March 22, policemen guard the boundary of Cavite and Metro Manila as the national capital and its nearby provinces are placed under lockdown due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. INQUIRER file photo / MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
MANILA, Philippines — The government’s pandemic task force may decide over the weekend on whether to deescalate Metro Manila to a less restrictive Alert Level 2 by next month, Malacañang said Wednesday.
The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases is set to meet on Thursday to discuss the parameters on the COVID-19 situation in the metropolis, Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles said.
However, the task force will make a decision on the alert levels over the weekend so that it would be “closest as possible” to Feb. 1.
“We want to do it as close to Feb. 1 as possible. Tomorrow we will look at the numbers, perhaps we will have to make a decision, as far as Metro Manila is concerned, over the weekend,” Nograles, who also sits as the IATF co-chairman, said in an interview over CNN Philippines’ The Source.
“We want to make a decision as closest to Feb. 1 as possible. Maybe I will probably announce this over the weekend either Saturday or Sunday,” he added.
Nograles said the IATF will be looking at the COVID-19 two-week growth rate, average daily attack rate and the hospital bed utilization rate in Metro Manila, which will serve as the basis for the task force’s decision on whether to downgrade the capital region to Alert Level 2.
Metro Manila is currently placed under Alert Level 3 until Jan. 31.
Health authorities and experts have observed a decline of COVID-19 infections in Metro Manila.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said the rise of cases in the region may have already peaked, with the highest number recorded on Jan. 15 at over 18,000 cases, and is now decreasing.
Independent pandemic monitor Octa Research Group said the COVID-19 reproduction number now in Metro Manila is 0.71. With this new number, the number of new COVID-19 cases per day in the metropolis could decrease to just below 500 by Valentine’s Day.
