US CDC lowers Philippines, 6 other countries to 'high' COVID-19 risk Level 3
MANILA, Philippines — The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention lowered its risk assessment on the Philippines from "very high" Level 4 to "high" Level 3 on Monday as it urged Americans to still avoid traveling to the country due to the prevalence of COVID-19 cases.
"Make sure you are fully vaccinated before traveling to these destinations. Unvaccinated travelers should avoid nonessential travel to these destinations," its advisory on Level 3 risk destinations reads on its official website.
Indonesia, Timor-Leste and the Philippines are the only countries in Southeast Asia still currently designated under Level 3 risk. Collectively, the CDC warned Americans to avoid travel to 135 territories.
The Philippines previously stood at Level 4 risk under the CDC's map. Level 4 reads: "Avoid travel to these destinations. If you must travel to these destinations, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel."
Aurora Bulacan Laguna Pampanga Quezon Rizal Zambales at VERY LOW RISK while NCR Bataan Batangas Cavite Nueva Ecija Tarlac at LOW RISK. NCR reproduction number 0.24, positivity rate 3%, ADAR 1.40, HCUR 23% @dzbb @DZAR1026 @allangatus @dzrhnews @ali_sotto @News5PH @NewsRmn @dwiz882 pic.twitter.com/wks7Ed53hb
— Dr. Guido David (@iamguidodavid) March 9, 2022
This comes as the national government back home mulls the possibility of opening Alert Level 1 — the loosest quarantine status in the alert level system — nationwide. The lowest alert level is commonly thought of as the last step before entering the "new normal."
To date, the Department of Health has recorded 3.6 million cases of coronavirus in the Philippines, 48,437 of whom are still classified as active cases.
According to independent pandemic monitor the OCTA Research Group, Metro Manila averaged 198 cases of the pathogen over the past week along with a reproduction number of 0.24 and a positivity rate of three percent.
Since the positivity rate, or the percentage of tests that came out positive, was well within the World Health Organization's recommendation of five percent positivity for opening economies, OCTA said that the National Capital Region is still at low risk.
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