Vergeire: All areas must be under Alert Level 1 for status downgrade

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday said that all areas in the country should be under Alert Level 1 before any downgrading to lower status of COVID-19 risk classification could be imposed.

At the Palace briefing, Vergeire clarified that “Alert Level 0” is not a formal or official term yet for the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

“Ang kasunod na ng Alert Level 1 ay makita natin na mag-Alert Level 1 na ang lahat ng areas sa ating bansa – all provinces, highly-urbanized cities, and independent component cities would be seen or deescalated already to Alert Level 1,” she said.

(The status below Alert Level 1 will be imposed when we see all areas in the country – all provinces, highly-urbanized cities, and independent component cities – deescalate to Alert Level 1.)

She noted that the status lower than Alert Level 1 will be declared for the entire country and not per area.

With all areas under Alert Level 1, Vergeire said discussion on further easing of restrictions and refocusing of resources will start.

Authorities will review if there is still a need for dedicated beds for COVID-19 cases in hospitals, quarantine facilities in local government units, and surveillance on testing, she added.

The following criteria should be met before a certain area could be placed under Alert Level 1:

• low to minimal risk case classification
• total bed utilization rate of less than 50%
• full vaccination of 70% of its target population (denominator is 80% of its total population)
• full vaccination of 80% of its Priority Group A2 (senior citizens) or target population (denominator is 85% of A2 population)

Earlier, the IATF placed the National Capital Region and 47 other areas under Alert Level 1 from March 16 to March 31. —LBG, GMA News