MANILA – All provinces and highly urbanized cities comprising Western Visayas would remain under coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Alert Level 2 for the first 15 days of December, acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Alexi Nograles announced last night.
The recommendation was made by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) and approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.
The provinces of Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Antique, Aklan, Capiz, and Guimaras have been under Alert Level 2 since the start of November, while the cities of Iloilo and Bacolod shifted to such status on Nov. 15.
Under Alert Level 2, indoor dine-in services and fitness studios and gyms may operate at 50 percent venue capacity while such done outdoors may operate at 70 percent venue capacity.
On-site capacities will only be allowed for fully vaccinated individuals while takeout and delivery in restaurants will be allowed in all alert levels.
Keeping the region under Alert Level 2 came amid fears of travel restrictions like flight suspensions, and heightened quarantine protocols were announced against the Omicron variant of the virus causing COVID-19.
Nograles said the decline in cases should not mean being lax about basic safety protocols like physical distancing, wearing of facemasks and frequent hand washing.
“Dahil itong Omicron variant ay na-designate bilang variant of concern, pinalakas at pinaiigting na natin ang local response para sa COVID-19,” he said.
“These include strongly enjoining local government units to heighten their alert for increasing and clustering of cases and emphasizing the need for active case finding,” Nograles said.
“They must immediately conduct contact tracing and isolation of cases detected from case surveillance among the community including domestic and international travelers; and to use RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) testing to allow for whole genome sequencing of collected samples,” he added./PN
