The restrictions imposed in the country are further relaxed as the number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines continues to decline.
This was shared by acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles, Friday, now that the government is deescalating the province of Apayao from Alert Level 3.
“This latest development means as of today, no province or city is under Alert Level 3,” said Nograles in a Palace briefing today.
“This means that the entire country is under Alert Level 2.”
After the pandemic task force, the relaxation was carried out in Apayao changed the standards for setting alert level classifications of provinces, urbanized cities, and independent component cities.
Some of the changes are:
- removal of the one-week growth rate when it comes to restricting area from Alert Level 1 to 2
- an area will only be placed on a stricter alert level if one of the case classifications or total COVID-19 bed utilization rises to “moderate risk” or higher
- areas on Alert Level 2 will be raised to Alert Level 3 if both case classification and total COVID-19 bed utilization are at moderate risk or if case classification is at high to critical risk
Also read: Taal Volcano remains under Alert Level 2
Entire Philippines now under Alert Level 2
Although new COVID-19 cases are declining, relaxations are underway as the threat of a supposedly more contagious Omicron variant overseas that allegedly affects the effectiveness of vaccines looms.
The Philippines is now enforcing a travel ban in some countries, especially in the “red list countries” detected by the Omicron variant, which is said to have 50 mutations in conflict.
Meanwhile, the government failed to reach the target of nine million individuals to be vaccinated on National Vaccination Day after just over 7.6 million were vaccinated in three days.
As a result, the government has decided to extend the National Vaccination Day from the original date of November 29-December one, which will now extend until now December 3.
According to National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) chairperson and Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, 2.7 million individuals were vaccinated on November 29, 2.4 million on November 30, and 2.4 million on December 1.
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