Duque: PH likely to stay under Alert Level 1 until Duterte’s term ends

MANILA, Philippines — It is likely that the Philippines will remain under Alert Level 1 until President Rodrigo Duterte ends his term in June, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.

Duque made the remark amid questions of possible further changes in policies—such as whether or not the face mask mandate should be dropped as COVID-19 cases in the country decline.

“Alert Level 1 muna tayo. Malamang hanggang sa katapusan na ng termino ng ating Pangulong Duterte,” Duque said during the Laging Handa briefing.

(We’re still on Alert Level 1. It’s likely that this could continue until the end of President Duterte’s term.)

This, however, still depends on whether there will be new COVID-19 variants and mutations that will enter the country.

According to Duque, there are still 57 provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities that are still under Alert Level 2.

Duque the government’s focus remains on de-escalating these areas to Alert Level 1 by ramping up vaccination coverage.

Moreover, Duque said there are still no policies in place regarding the so-called “Alert Level 0.”

“‘Yan muna ang ating pagtuunan ng pansin kaysa ‘yung pag-usapan na ‘yang Alert Level 0. Maayos naman tayo sa Alert Level 1,” Duque said.

(Let’s focus on that first instead of talking about Alert Level 1. We’re okay with Alert Level 1.)

/MUF