The head of the Catholic Church’s Episcopal Commission on Health Care reminded Filipinos to continue to be mindful of the coronavirus disease despite the declining positivity rate in the country.
“Now that we are going back to normal, we should not forget the importance of our health,” said Camillian Father Dan Cancino in an interview over Radio Veritas 846.
The priest said one’s health is a “gift,” adding that during the pandemic “we saw the importance of life, of health, of family, and of faith.”
He called on the public to continue to observe the basic health protocols to prevent the spread of the virus, especially to the elderly.
“If we have the right to remove the mask, we also have the responsibility to wear it for the sake of others, especially the immunocompromized,” he said in Filipino.
“Let us protect ourselves so that we can also protect others,” said Father Cancino.
The Department of Health, meanwhile, announced that it is entertaining the possibility of adopting an Alert Level 0 in the country’s existing alert level system for its Covid-19 response.
“We are recognizing the fact that we can reach that point that there is no alert level and everything is at that normal stage,” said Dr. Maria Rosario Vergeire.
In March 2022, the DOH thought of introducing Alert Level 0 as a way to further deescalate from Alert Level 1. The department, however, decided to just maintain Alert Level 1.
Based on the latest Covid-19 trend, the DOH noted that all areas have started to show plateauing of cases in recent days, while severe/critical hospital admissions are still on downward trend for several weeks.
“Once we are no longer seeing risks or threats, of course, our alert would be at the lower most level,” said Vergeire.
She noted though, that having an Alert Level 0 should not mean that there is no more need for any health protocols or safeguards because the transmission of Covid-19 and its variants and subvariants remains possible.
