NATIONWIDE implementation of the alert level system will depend on how successful a pilot test will be in the National Capital Region (NCR or Metro Manila), according to the Department of Health (DoH).

Health Undersecretary Maria the time of detection to isolation. Rosario Vergeire said the pilot test of The system further allows the the new alert level system in Metro country to reopen the economy Manila will allow the DoH and the through a targeted reopening of Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management high-risk sectors that involve closed of Emerging Infectious spaces with poor ventilation, crowded Diseases (IATF-EID) to see how it areas and close-contact activities will be effective and how it can be — the so-called Three C’s. applied to the rest of the country. Vergeire said the government

“Kapag nakakita tayo ng positibong has also set thresholds to determine resulta sa ginagawang (If we how a region or a city will see positive results in our) pilot be placed under an alert level, but implementation, we may be able they are yet to publicize them to to roll it out to the rest of the avoid confusion. country maybe toward the end of “Let us remember, we are piloting September, pero IATF pa rin po this, we are studying all

ang magdedesisyon n’yan, (but of the factors and components, the IATF still has the final decision at ‘pag nakita natin na hindi on that), “Vergeire also said nagwo-work ang component na during her regular media briefing ‘yun, we can change that because on Friday. we are piloting...at ‘pag pinalitan

Metro Manila is currently under po natin ‘yung metrics na iyon, Alert Level 4 of the new Covid-19 mako-confuse po ang ating publiko alert system, which also prioritizes (and once we see that these implementation of more localized components do not work, we granular lockdowns in the region. can change them because we are

Vergeire said the new alert level still piloting them...and when we system prioritizes, too, both case change those metrics, the public numbers and hospital utilization may get confused),” she added. rate capacity, and also encourages Vergeire agreed with the call of local government units to conduct the Healthcare Professionals Alliance more active case finding and shorten against Covid-19 that emergency room capacity should also be included in the overall hospital utilization rate, but she said they cannot include ER capacity yet because of changing standards during the pandemic.

“Hindi na ganyan ang capacity nila; mayroon na rin tayong emergency room set-ups na naka-tent na lang... at ito po ay ating pinagaaralang mabuti kung paano tayo makakapag-set ng standard metric so we can be able to measure itong ER occupancy in all of the hospitals (The capacity is not anymore like before, as many emergency rooms have set up tents .... That is why it is being studied carefully how we can set a standard metric so we can measure this ER occupancy in all of the hospitals),” she added.

Vergeire said the DoH regularly conducts a daily census of all hospital admissions, which includes ER admissions.

Also on Friday, the IATF-EID announced the imposition of travel restrictions on passengers from four more countries on its “red list” to help arrest the spread Covid-19 in the country.

In a statement, Malacañang spokesman Harry Roque Jr. noted the addition of Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Serbia and Slovenia.

Previously listed as red countries were Azerbaijan, Guadeloupe, Guam, Israel, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Saint Lucia and Switzerland.

The red list is made up of countries/jurisdictions/territories tagged as “high-risk” based on the following: for populations greater than 100,000, the incidence rate shall be more than 500; for populations less than 100,000, the Covid-19 case counts shall be more than 500; and the testing rate of tests over the past 28 days per 100,000 population

Those on the green list are American Samoa, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Chad, China, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Gabon, Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China), Hungary, Madagascar, Mali, Federated States of Micronesia, Montserrat, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niger, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Poland, Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of The Netherlands), Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Sierra Leone, Sint Eustatius, Taiwan, Algeria, Bhutan, Cook Islands, Eritrea, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Nicaragua, Niue, North Korea, Saint Helena, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Yemen.

All other countries/territories/ jurisdictions not mentioned are on the yellow list.

The new classification shall take effect on September 19, 2021 and last until Sept. 30, 2021.