MANILA, Philippines — The government's pandemic task force on Thursday amended the metrics for determining the alert level classifications of areas, including the conditions and vaccination rates they should meet to be placed under the most lenient Alert Level 1 or "new normal."
Acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles said the revised metrics would be applied in determining the classification of areas beginning March 1.
Provinces, highly urbanized cities and independent component cities would be downgraded to Alert Level 1 if they meet all of the criteria stated in Resolution No. 146-D issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF). The new criteria emphasized the need to ramp up the vaccination of the target population, including senior citizens, one of the sectors most vulnerable to COVID-19.
To be placed under "new normal," an area should have a low to minimal risk case classification; a total bed utilization rate of less than 50%; fully vaccinated 70% of its target population, which is 80% of its total population; and fully inoculated 80% of its senior citizen target population, which is 85% of the people who belong to the sector.
If an area is deescalated to Alert Level 1, all of its establishments may operate and all activities may be done at full on-site or venue capacity but business owners and event organizers should ensure that minimum health measures like proper ventilation, wearing of face masks, and frequent handwashing, are complied with. Intrazonal and interzonal travel will also be allowed regardless of age and comorbidities.
Nogtales said the alert level matrix, as determined by the sub-technical working group on data analytics, shall continue to use the cross-tabulation of case classification and total COVID-19 beds utilization.
However, the cutoffs for the average daily attack rate or the number of new COVID-19 infections per 100,000 population shall be less than six for low risk; six to 18 for moderate risk; and more than 18 for high risk.
Nograles said the IATF has also approved the acceptance and recognition of the national COVID-19 vaccination certificates of Romania and the British Virgin Islands for arrival quarantine protocols and for interzonal or intrazonal movement.
"The IATF directed the Bureau of Quarantine, the Department of Transportation - One-Stop-Shop and the Bureau of Immigration to recognize only the proofs of vaccination thus approved by the IATF," Nograles said in a statement.
The Philippine government has so far agreed to recognize the national pandemic vaccination certificates of 66 countries, territories, and jurisdictions.