DOH eyes COVID-19 Alert Level O

MANILA, Philippines — As things start getting back to normal, the Department of Health (DOH) has entertained the possibility of adopting an Alert Level 0 in the country’s existing alert level system for its COVID-19 response.

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said they are looking at reviving talks on imposing an Alert Level 0 with the continued improvement of the COVID-19 situation in the country.

“We are recognizing the fact that we can reach that point that there is no alert level and everything is at that normal stage,” Vergeire said yesterday at a press conference.

It was in March 2022 when the DOH thought of introducing Alert Level 0 as a way to further deescalate from Alert Level 1. The DOH, however, decided to just maintain Alert Level 1 until the end of the Duterte administration.

Based on the latest COVID-19 trend, the DOH noted that all areas have started to show plateauing of cases in recent days, while severe/critical hospital admissions are still on downward trend for several weeks.

“Once we are no longer seeing risks or threats, of course, our alert would be at the lower most level,” said Vergeire.

She noted though, that having an Alert Level 0 should not mean that there is no more need for any health protocols or safeguards because the transmission of COVID-19 and its variants and subvariants remains possible.

The health official noted that the DOH cannot decide alone on the introduction of Alert Level 0 and that it would require the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

This developed as the country recently detected cases of the highly infectious Omicron subvariants XBB.1.5 or the so-called “Kraken” and the CH.1.1 or the “Orthrus.”

The lone XBB.1.5 case, Vergeire said, is a Filipino with no recent travel history and unknown exposure. The patient has recovered after experiencing mild symptoms. The DOH was able to identify the patient’s close contacts who were all asymptomatic and should have all completed their quarantine as of this time.

Meanwhile, there were three CH.1.1 cases detected. The World Health Organization described the CH.1.1 as a “variant under monitoring.”

Bivalent

The DOH is aiming to release by next week the guidelines for the use bivalent COVID-19 vaccines as it anticipates the arrival of the initial batch of these new generation vaccines in the country next month.

“We are finalizing our guidelines. We will just be meeting with our Strategic Advisory Group of Experts for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases. After that, we will finalize the guidelines with the DOH executive committee for final approval,” Vergeire said yesterday. “Hopefully, by next week, the guidelines will be out so our local government units can start with their preparations.”

At the same time, Vergeire said that negotiations are still ongoing with one country that confirmed a donation of 300,000-plus doses of bivalent vaccines.

She bared that there are two additional countries also offering donation of bivalent vaccines.

“We are also currently in talks with these two countries so that we can immediately confirm if these vaccines are acceptable and can immediately be utilized in the country,” Vergeire said.

The DOH earlier said that almost 1.4 million doses of bivalent vaccines have been confirmed as donation to the country. The COVAX Facility will donate an initial 1 million and 2,000 doses that are expected to arrive before March ends.

The DOH said health care workers, senior citizens and people with comorbidities are the ones to benefit from the first batch of bivalent COVID-19 vaccines. Prioritization may be expanded to other groups Donce additional doses are secured and available.o

The DOH OIC added that initially, they would only purchase a limited amount to prevent vaccine wastage.