MANILA – Malacañang on Wednesday stated that it is not yet time to remove the five-tier alert level system because the Covid-19 vaccination drives must be expanded in other areas of the country.
While the National Capital Region (NCR) has a high vaccination rate, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, who also serves as the acting presidential spokesperson, stated that the government sees the need to significantly scale up vaccination in various regions.
“Hindi pa po panahon para tanggalin iyong (It is not yet time to scrap the) alert level system,” Nograles said in an interview over the ABS-CBN News Channel.
“Sa NCR yes — okay lang iyong mataas iyong ating vaccination (In NCR, yes it’s okay because vaccination is high), but we still have to ramp up the vaccinations sa iba’t ibang mga (within other) regions, although we’re seeing very, very good numbers now in the different regions,” he added.
The alert level system will likely remain in case an emergence of a new Covid-19 variant would trigger another surge of infections, according to Nograles.
“Even the health experts will tell you that we hope — the Delta would be the last variant of concern na deadly and hopefully the next mutations will go the way of Omicron — meaning to say kahit na (even if it’s) more transmissible, less deadly siya for—or less fatal siya for the fully vaccinated,” he said.
Rather than discussing the removal of the alert level system, Nograles stated that the focus should be placing the country into the most lenient Alert Level 1 classification, with at least 70 percent of senior citizens (A2) and those with comorbidities (A3) already fully vaccinated.
“The reason why hindi natin tatanggalin ang alert levels para just in case a new variant of concern or interest comes or nasu-surge ulit, mababalik agad natin sa Alert Level 2 (The reason why we’re not removing the alert levels is that just in case there would be new variants of concern or interest, or if there is another surge, we could quickly revert to Alert Level 2),” Nograles said.
“So maybe what we’re asking for is kailan tayo mag-a-Alert Level 1, which is what you’re saying na parang back to normal, but it’s new normal because dapat mataas iyong vaccination rate especially for the A2 and A3 (So maybe what we’re asking for is when we will be placed under Alert Level 1, which is what you’re saying is like being back to normal, but it’s the new normal because vaccination rate, especially for the A2 and A3, should be higher),” he added.
Nograles noted that in order to de-escalate under Alert Level 1, an area should have a hospital utilization rate of below 49 percent, a zero or decreasing Covid-19 two-week growth rate, and an average daily attack rate (ADAR) below 1.
He claimed that by using Safety Seal, establishments can expand their venue capacity while adhering to less stringent protocols.
