DOH frowns on lower COVID-19 alert level  

MANILA, Philippines — More areas in the country will be under the most lenient Alert Level 1 beginning today until April 15, Presidential Communications Secretary and acting presidential spokesman Martin Andanar said.

Andanar yesterday said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) placed the provinces of Mountain Province in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Southern Leyte in Region 8 and Misamis Oriental in Region 10 under Alert Level 1.

Also under Alert Level 1 are Buguias in Benguet, Atimonan and Tiaong in Quezon province, Santa Magdalena in Sorsogon and City of Masbate in Masbate, Batad and Zarraga in Iloilo, City of Talisay in Cebu, Javier (Bugho) and La Paz in Leyte, Maslog in Eastern Samar and Paranas (Wright) in Samar (Western Samar), Linamon in Lanao del Norte and Calamba in Misamis Occidental, Padada in Davao del Sur, Sibagat in Agusan del Sur and Tubajon and Cagdianao in Dinagat Islands.

“This Alert Level 1 status in the above-mentioned areas shall take effect tomorrow, April 9, 2022 until April 15, 2022. All other provisions as to the alert level of provinces, highly urbanized cities, independent component cities, component cities and municipalities under IATF Resolution No.165-E not affected by the above-mentioned alert level classification shall remain in effect until April 15, 2022,” Andanar said.

The IATF earlier placed Metro Manila and 48 other areas under Alert Level 1 until April 15.

President Duterte said Alert Level 1 should remain “until we are very sure that everything is really all right.”

“Everyone wants to return to zero or one. That cannot be done because there are areas that still have cases. Until such time that there are only one or two cases all over the country, Alert Level 1 would still be good, it is like our buffer,” Duterte said in a recent public address.

No de-escalation

After weeks of steady decline in COVID-19 cases, Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire yesterday said the country is now experiencing a plateau in new infections.

“The number of new COVID-19 cases is on a plateau in the National Capital Region and all island groups,” she added.

DOH data showed that from March 28 to April 3, average new infections nationwide was 382, only two percent lower compared to 389 average daily cases recorded from March 21 to 27.

Vergeire maintained that having a plateau in cases is not bad if it does not result in a surge in cases, as she cautioned against complacency because there is also a possibility for cases to increase.

According to DOH-Technical Advisory Group member Edsel Salvaña, it is not yet the time to de-escalate the alert status for COVID-19 despite this development primarily because of the election season.

“It’s campaign period and it’s also Holy Week so people are traveling. So I don’t think it’s a good time to de-escalate right now because we know there will be an increase in risk-taking behavior,” he said.

Variants not detected

The DOH also reported yesterday that XE, XD and XF recombinant variants of COVID-19 have not been detected in the Philippines, based on the latest genome sequencing report of the Philippine Genome Center in March.

However, she noted that Omicron variant was found in almost 80 percent of the samples sequenced. On the other hand, two Delta variant cases were sequenced in Region 2 and Region 6.

According Salvaña, these recombinant variants are not expected to cause a decrease in the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine because their components, especially the spike protein, are identical to at least one of the “parent sublineages.”

He added that the emergence of recombinants could not be avoided since there are now almost 500 million COVID-19 infections worldwide. However, the recombinants appear to have not overtaken the BA.2 sublineage of Omicron or any other circulating variants.

“But right now, there’s not a big red flag and the World Health Organization is also expecting the recombinants to be manageable,” he added. – Sheila Crisostomo