Cabotaje, DOH targets 4th “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” IATF places 39 areas under Alert Level 1 IATF implements new Alert Level metrics

Targeting PH Herd Immunity

Cabotaje, DOH targets 4th “Bayanihan, Bakunahan”

LANCE CRISOSTOMO

Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje announced that the Department of Health (DOH) eyes to conduct the 4th “Bayanihan, Bakunahan”, focusing on inoculating senior citizens.

In a Laging Handa press briefing last February 26, Cabotaje said that the discussions regarding the details and conduct of the 4th “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” are still on-going. FEBRUARY 2022 // NEWS 5 "Nag-announce na si Secretary Dizon, about the week of March 7 ang ating NVD (4, we are still finalizing concept,” Cabotaje explained. She also said that aside from the senior citizens, the 4th wave of nationwide vaccination will also be targeting to boost the vaccination of children ages 12 to 17. The 4th “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” is carefully planned by the Health Department and sectors in order to avoid the outcome of the 3rd nationwide vaccination wherein the figures revealed that only 3.4 million out of the 9 million targets were vaccinated during the nine-day drive. As of February 27, there are 135,479,183 doses administered wherein 10,137,875 are boosted, 63,092,684 are fully vaccinated, and 62,248,624 have received their first dose according to the ABS-CBN COVID-19 Vaccine tracker. [R]

IATF implements new Alert Level metrics

LANCE CRISOSTOMO

The Inter-Agency Task Force approved the newly revised metrics in order to determine the Alert Level placement of all areas across the Philippines, Thursday, February 24.

In his statement, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that the alert level placement will still be determined by the combination of ‘cross-tabulation’ of cases classification and COVID-19 bed utilizations but the changes were manifested as cutoffs for average daily attack rate (ADAR) should be six for lowrisk classification, six to 18 for moderate risk, and more than 18 for high risk. Additionally, he emphasized that highly-urbanized and independent cities can now be placed under Alert level one given that they meet all the criteria mentioned in the revised metrics. The revised metrics provided that the qualified cities can be placed under Alert Level 1 if they attained low/minimal risk cases, less than 50% COVID bed used, 70% fully vaccinated population, and 80% fully vaccinated A2 groups. The said revised metrics were used by IATF in determining the alert level classifications for all areas in the Philippines starting March 1. [R]

IATF places 39 areas under Alert Level 1

LANCE CRISOSTOMO

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles announced that the IATF approved the placement of 39 areas across the country under Alert Level 1, effective March 1 - 15.

In his statement last February 27, Nograles said that the following areas will join NCR under Alert Level 1 for the first half of March:

LUZON AREA Abra, Apayao, Baguio City, Kalinga, Dagupan City, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Batanes, Cagayan, City of Santiago, Isabela, Quirino, Angeles City, Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Olongapo City, Pampanga, Tarlac, Cavite, Laguna, Marinduque, Puerto Princesa City, Romblon, Naga City, and Catanduanes

VISAYAS AREA Aklan, Bacolod City, Capiz, Guimaras, Siquijor, and Biliran

MINDANAO AREA Zamboanga City, Cagayan De Oro City, Camiguin, and Davao City.

Under the Alert Level 1 classification, human movements (applicable for all ages) are allowable given that minimum public health protocols are observed. Additionally, all establishments in areas under Alert Level 1 are allowed to cater their 100% full-capacity but everyone in the said establishments is still required to wear face masks and follow minimum public health protocols. Individuals aged 18 and above, on the other hand, are still required to provide proof that they were fully vaccinated in order to join mass gatherings and enter establishments especially those under Closed, Crowded, and Close Contact (3Cs) classification. On the other hand, the rest of the areas which are not classified under Alert Level 1 were placed under Alert Level 2 effective from March 1 - 15 as well. [R]