Año wants entire Philippines under Alert Level 1

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Monday said he wants the entire country to be placed under Alert Level 1 to ease restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic and improve the economy.

“Yes, 'yun ang ating adhikain d'yan. Dapat buong Pilipinas under Alert Level 1 para talagang halos ang ating restriction na lang ay minimum public health standards at ang iba't ibang bayan ay umunlad at mag-take off na,” Año said in a radio interview when asked if he wants to place the Philippines under Alert Level 1.

(Yes, that’s our goal. The country should be placed under Alert Level 1 so that our restrictions would only be minimum public health standards and other towns will improve and take off.)

Año said the government has adjusted the requirements to place an area under Alert Level 1 like the required vaccination rate of A2 population from the previous 80% to the current 70%.

He added municipalities now can also be placed under Alert Level 1 based on the healthcare utilization rate of their province.

On Friday, presidential deputy spokesperson Undersecretary Kristian Ablan said the administration is eyeing to shift to “new normal” before President Rodrigo Duterte’s term ends in June.

The Department of Health on Sunday reported 690 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide tally to 3,679,629. A total of 35,967 are active infections.

As of March 24, independent monitoring group OCTA Research said the Philippines remained under the “very low risk” category for COVID-19.

From April 1 to 15, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases placed  different areas across the country under Alert Level 1 and Alert Level 2.—AOL, GMA News