Duterte adviser says lockdown should not be an option amid Omicron

Presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion on Monday said there is no need to resort to large-scale lockdowns in light of the entry of the more transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Concepcion made the statement on the day the Department of Health confirmed the fourth case of Omicron variant in the country.

"We should never have [a] lockdown. We had granular lockdowns and it worked. Let us not panic. There has been increased mobility [due to Christmas holidays], everybody wants to get out of our homes and businesses have been able to recover 80% of pandemic sales," Concepcion said in an ANC interview.

"But how do we sustain the momentum? That is why we have called for early administration of booster shots so we can prepare. We are fortifying our defenses," he added.

Concepcion was referring to the recent decision of the government to reduce the interval for administering booster shots from six months to three months for two-dose COVID-19 vaccine and two months for the single-dose vaccine.

"NCR (National Capital Region) is already 100% fully vaccinated, while Visayas and Mindanao are improving, although they need to improve at a faster rate," Concepcion said.

"We are fortifying our defenses with booster. We should be better prepared," he added.

Malacañang earlier said that the government exceeded its target of administering seven million doses of COVID-19 for the second round of national vaccination days held recently.

Acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said 7,497,802 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered during this period even if the vaccination days were disrupted by Typhoon Odette.

The Palace, however, has yet to say if the country is on track of meeting the target of fully vaccinating 54 million Filipinos against COVID-19 by year-end. —KBK, GMA News