Mayors in Metro Manila will not recommend raising the National Capital Region’s (NCR) alert level to 4 to the national government, their coordinator said.

“We will maintain the Alert Level 3. We will continuously monitor specifically our health care utilization rate,” Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benhur Abalos said in a virtual press briefing on Monday, January 10. “For the meantime, we see no need to escalate to Alert Level 4.”

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The metropolis’ alert level status expires on January 15. Under Alert Level 3, several establishments are allowed to operate at a maximum of 30% indoor venue capacity and 50% outdoor venue capacity.

Raising the alert level to 4 would reduce indoor venue capacity of several business establishments to 10%, and outdoor venue capacity to 30%.

In shying away from an escalation of lockdown curbs, Abalos presented photos showing that there were fewer people in malls and fewer cars on the road.

“If you look at mobility of the people, the public has practiced self-regulation,” Abalos said in Filipino.

He also added that the resolution released by MMDA’s policy-making body Metro Manila Council has already prohibited unvaccinated individuals from leaving their homes.

Abalos also found comfort in the fact that the region has met its second-dose vaccination target of 9.8 million people, and has administered booster shots to 924,593 of them.

Utilization of ICU beds in the region was at 52% on January 9, Abalos reported, citing data from the Department of Health (DOH).

Metro Manila has been grappling with over 79,000 active COVID-19 cases as of Sunday, January 9, some 16,000 of which was reported on that day alone. – Rappler.com