A mother ensures that she and her child are masked as they take a jeepney in Marikina City. While COVID-19 cases are dropping in Metro Manila, health officials still urge the public to continue observing health protocols to stop another infection surge. (LYN RILLON / INQUIRER)
MANILA, Philippines — It is now a good time to deescalate the alert level in areas with low COVID-19 cases, infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante said on Monday.
“I think the trend is really improving, especially with the daily cases that we have and I think it’s a good time to really downgrade the alert level,” he said on TeleRadyo’s Sakto.
“At this point, mukhang medyo kaya na nating ibaba to Alert Level 1 pero ganu’n pa rin, we still need to emphasize na pagbaba ng Alert Level 1, hindi ibig sabihin na we have to take everything parang normal na,” he pointed out.
(At this point, I think we can downgrade to Alert Level 1 but, we still need to emphasize that it is still not yet back to normal.)
Solante said that minimum public health standards, such as wearing of face masks and physical distancing, should remain despite a relaxed alert level.
“But, again, ang panawagan natin dito (our appeal here) is we should not be taking out our mask and we should still remember the importance of physical distance and ventilation in enclosed spaces,” he said.
“We should still be careful, especially sa mga those may mga sintomas (those with symptoms), you have to do the tests. You have to isolate and at the same time, ang pagsusuot ng (wearing of face) masks, especially sa mga areas na wala nang limit sa mga papasok, napaka-importante ang mga (in areas where there is no limit in entering) health protocols [are important],” he explained.
Currently, Alert Level 3 is in effect in Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental, Guimaras, Iloilo City, Iloilo province, South Cotabato, and Zamboanga City.
Metro Manila and the rest of the country are under Alert Level 2 until the end of the month.
On February 20, the country logged 1,712 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest daily tally since December 30.