DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III confirmed that almost 500 new COVID-19 cases are recorded in the country daily.
Duque said that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) will have a meeting to determine how many areas, the highly urbanized cities, cities and municipalities, will be added to the areas under Alert Level 1, while the 38 other areas already placed under Alert Level 1 will remain in the same alert level classification.
Duque said he is also waiting for the results of the studies on data collected by experts, although he noted that continued decline in hospital utilization rate and other barometers.
The IATF is expected to announce tomorrow which other areas will be placed under Alert Level 1.
He said that the IATF is still studying whether to declare Alert Level Zero because he believes the wearing of face masks and other health protocols should still remain to ensure that COVID-19 will not spread further to other parts of the country.