NCR to be under Alert Level 4 starting Thursday: DILG
A Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) official said the National Capital Region will be placed under Alert Level 4 starting Thursday as part of the pilot implementation of the general community quarantine (GCQ) with alert levels system.
DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said during the ''Laging Handa'' public briefing on Saturday that mayors in NCR and the Department of Health agreed to start the pilot implementation of granular lockdown with Alert Level 4.
This will start on Sept 16 to Sept 30 as the government tries to bring COVID-19 cases under control after a new record high was reported on Saturday.
"But hopefully because it is testing, we will try to lessen the Alert Level to Three within a week, to slightly ease up while we are intensifying the granular lockdown not only in NCR but in the whole country," he said.
However, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Benhur Abalos told dzBB final details about alert levels will be threshed out in Monday's Inter-Agency Task Force meeting.
''On Monday, the IATF will meet to discuss the work of the technical working group on the Alert Level System with granular lockdown'' said Abalos.
Densing said the Department of Health (DOH) is studying the situation in Metro Manila as 26 percent of the patients in different hospitals come from other provinces.
The standards for the declaration of alert level system includes the status of the health care utilization rate in every local government unit.
"Based on the summary of the DOH, the first standard is the consideration of the health care utilization rate. It should be much lower than 70 percent capacity, because the 70 percent capacity is the high risk to critical level," he said.
"The aggressive decrease and increase in the number of cases and the ADAR, the Average Daily Attack Rate will also be the basis. So, these are some of the standards that will be used by the Department of Health before they announce the alert level," he added.
Densing said the granular lockdown should be implemented within 24 hours.
"The barangay will report cases to the city or municipal health office because they are the one who will make a recommendation to the local chief executive or to the mayor to declare a street or an area under granular lockdown. It should be done within 24 hours to inform these areas that will be placed under granular lockdown," he said.
"This is why we have 24 hours extension before the lockdown to assign rerouting for vehicles and because this is...the new policy to fight the COVID- 19, for us to make sure that there will no movement of people in granular areas the national government will help in the need of the local government for the lockdown areas," he added. Robina Asido/DMS
