IT is still not advisable for the national government to lift the state of public health emergency because of the threat of COVID-19.
According to infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante, there is still the threat posed by the COVID-19 variants of concern, seen as the cause of increase in COVID-19 infections around the world.
If the country remains under a state of public health emergency in order to implement mitigation measures and policies that can help control COVID-19, it is best that it remains for now.
Also, Solante emphasized the need to maintain the stability of the country’s healthcare system and to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed by a surge in patients that may cause the COVID-19 alert level to be raised again.
He suggested not to put into too much uses the hospital beds allocated for non-COVID patients and to keep reserve rooms for COVID-19 patients and to also strengthen the country’s detection or testing especially in the vulnerable sector.