Gov’t considers allowing more personal care services to reopen under Alert Level 4 —DTI chief

The government is considering to allow more personal care service activities to operate under Alert Level 4 to let more people to go back to work and boost the country’s pandemic-stricken economy, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said Thursday.

“Kino-consider ng IATF (Inter-Agency Tak Force) ang pagbubukas ng ibang activities pa,” Lopez said during state-run PTV’s Laging Handa.

(The IATF is considering to reopen other activities.)

“For Alert Level 4, ‘yung mga iniisip pa na mga activity na pwedeng i-reconsider ito ‘yung mga naiwan pa na mga other personal care services… as long as merong mga safety protocols na ino-observe ay i-allow na rin po ‘yan,” he said.

(For Alert Level 4, the activities being considered are those personal care services which are not allowed to reopen yet… as long as these observe safety protocols these can be allowed to reopen.)

The National Capital Region (NCR) is currently under Alert Level 4 until October 15.

Under the said alert level, the personal care services such as barbershops, salons, and nail care service establishments are allowed to operate at 20% indoor capacity but only for fully vaccinated customers while services done outdoors should be at 30% venue capacity regardless if a customer is fully vaccinated or not.

Indoor dining or dine-in services are also allowed at 20% capacity for fully-vaccinated. Outdoor or al fresco dining is allowed at 30% capacity, regardless if customers are fully-vaccinated or not.

Fitness centers and gyms were added to the list of businesses allowed to operate under Alert Level 4, albeit at 20% capacity and observing a four-meter distancing among customers.

Lopez said the government is considering to allow other personal care services such as therapeutic establishments or massage parlors.

“Marami ring nasa ganyang industriya, maraming trabaho ang nag-aantay diyan na makabalik,” he said.

(There are a lot of workers in those industries, who are waiting to go back to work.)

“Very limited ang nasama sa personal care services, so ang nire-reconsider po ‘yung other personal care services sa Alert Level 4,” he added.

(There were very limited personal care services which were allowed to operate, so the government is reconsidering the other personal care services to reopen in Alert Level 4.)

Cinemas under Alert Level 3

Apart from adding more activities to reopen under Alert Level 4, the government is also considering the reopening cinemas under the less stringent Alert Level 3 should Metro Manila or other areas shift to this alert level.

“Yes, kasama po ‘yan sa konsiderasyon, pero I think, those activities are being reconsidered for Level 3,” Lopez said, referring to cinemas and arcades.

(Yes, those are included for consideration, but I think those activities are being reconsidered for Level 3.)

Under Alert Level 3, cinemas along with karaoke bars, theaters, clubs, playgrounds, and theme parks are prohibited.

Meanwhile, dining in restaurants, barbershops, salons, hair and nail spas, gyms are allowed to operate at 30% capacity, regardless if customers are fully-vaccinated or not.

“Ito po ‘yung mga patuloy na reopening na kino-consider para mas marami ang makabalik sa trabaho dito sa ating bayan,” Lopez said.

(These are what we are continuously considering to reopen to allow more workers to go back to their work.)—AOL, GMA News