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Duterte keeping Alert Level 1 amid threat of emerging COVID-19 variants

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Job Manahan, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="People spend time outdoors  ABS-CBN" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/news/02/15/20220203-manila-public-places-gc-12.jpg"/><figcaption>People spend time outdoors at the Rajah Sulayman Park in Manila on February 3, 2022. <em>George Calvelo, ABS-CBN</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday rejected proposals to put areas under COVID-19 Alert Level 0, considered as the country&#x27;s transition to a &quot;new normal,&quot; amid the threat of new variants of the coronavirus.</p><p>Amid the clamor by some sectors for all areas in the country to be placed under the loosest Alert Level 1, it just &quot;cannot be,&quot; said Duterte.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/03/11/22/how-will-the-philippines-look-like-under-alert-level-0">Alert Level 0: No more NTF, treating COVID-19 as flu?</a></li></ul><p>&quot;Hindi puwede kasi may mga lugar na mayroon pa (COVID-19 cases). Until such time na talagang almost, 1 o 2 na lang all over the country, yung Alert [Level] 1 is still a good na buffer natin,&quot; Duterte said in a public briefing.</p><p>&quot;Huwag na muna tanggalin natin &#x27;yan unless we are really sure that everything is really alright especially sa ating lugar. Kasi mag-reinfect nang mag-reinfect &#x27;yan, tapos may mutant na bago. &#x27;Yan ang magkaproblema.&quot;</p><p>Metro Manila and 197 areas nationwide are under Alert Level 1, which requires an area to have a relatively high COVID-19 vaccination rate and a low-risk health care utilization. </p><p>Only 57 areas have yet to be deescalated to Alert Level 1, according to the health department.</p><p>Government officials earlier floated the idea of an Alert Level 0, wherein COVID-19 will be treated as a flu and local government units will have more power to manage the crisis. </p><p>Infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante noted that based on metrics, the country is ready to shift to Alert Level 0. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/03/14/22/ncr-ready-for-pandemic-alert-0-says-duterte-adviser">Metro Manila &#x27;ready&#x27; for COVID-19 Alert Zero, says Duterte adviser</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/24/22/when-can-an-area-deescalate-to-alert-level-1">When can an area deescalate to Alert Level 1? IATF revises rules on quarantine classification</a></li></ul><p>Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion had also said Metro Manila is ready for such alert level. </p><p>The country in January fought a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections driven by the more transmissible omicron variant. </p><p>Health authorities have acknowledged the detection of the recombinant variant XE, first detected in Britain, which is a combination of the BA.1 and BA.2 omicron sub-variants, with a BA.2 spike protein.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/04/22/ph-monitors-reported-omicron-xe-variant-in-thailand">DOH monitoring reported &#x27;omicron XE&#x27; variant in Thailand</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/05/22/covid-19-jabs-effective-vs-xe-variant-health-dept">COVID-19 vaccines effective vs recombinant variant XE: health dept</a></li></ul><p>On Tuesday, the country posted 276 fresh COVID-19 cases, while active cases stood at 33,629, the lowest since January 4, according to the ABS-CBN Data Analytics team. </p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1988632" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar"><em>Video from PTV</em></div><div class="infogram-embed" data-id="_/XwlOyN6W2yUc4AnE9xPq" data-title="COVID-19 cases - 1" data-type="interactive"> </div><div><script type="text/javascript">!function(e,i,n,s){var t='InfogramEmbeds',d=e.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];if(window[t]&&window[t].initialized)window[t].process&&window[t].process();else if(!e.getElementById(n)){var o=e.createElement('script');o.async=1,o.id=n,o.src='https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js',d.parentNode.insertBefore(o,d)}}(document,0,'infogram-async');</script></div>

Government officials earlier floated the idea of an Alert Level 0, wherein COVID-19 will be treated as a flu and LGUs will have more power to manage the health crisis.

Duterte keeping Alert Level 1 amid threat of emerging COVID-19 variants

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Duterte keeping Alert Level 1 amid threat of emerging COVID-19 variants

Job Manahan,

ABS-CBN News

Published Apr 05, 2022 09:45 PM PHT

Read More:

COVID19

coronavirus

COVID-19 cases

Alert Level 1

Alert Level 0

Alert Level system

President Rodrigo Duterte

Duterte

COVID-19

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