The local Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) officially announced the guidelines for the residents of Puerto Princesa City under Alert Level 2 after the government organization convened their meeting earlier today, November 22, 2021.
On November 20, the national government has placed under respective Alert Levels the rest of the country in the aims of fully adapting the Alert Level Systems by December 1.
Spokesperson Attorney Norman Yap explained that in the previous community quarantine classification, they are targeting disease elimination to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus as there were shortages of vaccines and hospital beds were unprepared to accommodate infected patients.
In the new quarantine classification, Alert Level Systems, the approach is towards disease control or “living with the virus” as vaccine supply is sufficient and quarantine facilities are readily available. It also focuses on high-risk movement places or 3C’s (closed, crowded, and close contact).
He emphasized that the two classifications are completely different and are nonequivalent.
The Alert Level categorization will be changed every 15th or 30th of the month as seen fit by the Department of Health (DOH) which bases on the average daily cases, two-week growth rate or average daily attack rate, and occupancy rates of hospital beds.
Under Alert Level 2, restrictions are noticeably more eased as senior citizens and minors are now allowed to go out and the use of face shields are now optional but could be required by private establishments.
Also, there are still conditions that need to be met such as indoor restaurants where 50% venue capacity for fully vaccinated individuals and also requires all employees to be fully inoculated as well.
Also, contact sports and cockfighting are still not allowed by the local and national governments respectively.
Attorney Yap reminded the public that they are easing the restrictions not because the LGU has curbed the coronavirus but to assist the economy of Puerto Princesa City.
He also warned those still hesitant or firm on not getting the jab that with the lift of some prohibitions, the movement of people will increase thus increasing the chance of them getting infected and developing severe symptoms that may put their life in jeopardy.
Currently, the total COVID-19 cases in the city have reached 13,150, 3,933 RT-PCR confirmed and 9,217 Antigen Test reactive.
Of the total cases recorded, 707 are active cases, 12,001 have recovered, and 403 died.
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