Govt may ‘reclassify’ Covid ALS as IATF revamp looms

THE government is now considering revising Covid-19 alert levels (AL) next month and a possible revamp of the task force assigned with pandemic response.

In his meeting with health officials on Monday, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. also decided to retain the current alert level system (ALS) until mid-august to give the medical community time to prepare for the transition.

But he said he wants to “reclassify” Covid-related restrictions to make it compatible with the current “milder strains” of the disease.

“To avoid confusion, we will retain the alert level system for now. We are, however, thinking, we are studying very closely, and we’ll come to a decision very soon as to decoupling the restrictions from the alert levels,” Marcos said in the meeting.

Currently, business operations and public transportation capacity in an area are intertwined to its AL, which range from 1 to 5.

Those under AL 1 have the most relaxed restrictions due to low risk from Covid, while those in level 5 have the toughest restrictions due to the alarming number of infections.

Booster shots

DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) Officer in Charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire said the department might release the new “classification” scheme by the second week of August when Covid-19 cases are expected to be “more manageable.”

In its latest data, DOH was able to register 14,640 new Covid-19 cases from July 11 to July 17, which is around 44 percent higher compared to the cases the week before it.

Vergeire attributed the influx in new cases to the spread of Omicron BA.5 subvariant and the public’s relaxed compliance to minimum public health standards (MPHS).

She said they anticipate more of the infected individuals to be hospitalized by September if qualified individuals will not get their primary dose or booster shot before the said period.

As of July 2, 2022, only over 15 million of the around 70.7 million fully vaccinated individuals nationwide got their first booster shots.

To address the matter, Marcos said they might base the new classification of an area to the number of its populations, who have already availed of their booster shots.

IATF reconstitution

Aside from new a ls, verge ire said they will also be“reconstituting the member agencies of the inter-agency task force [IATF] for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to only those with relevant and intended functions.”

She said they will also be phasing out the National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) and have its functions integrated into the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

The IATF sets the government policies related to infectious diseases like Covid-19, while the NTF serves as its implementing arm.