Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 8)— An infectious diseases expert expressed belief that there is a need to impose higher alert levels in areas with ballooning COVID-19 cases.
At the Laging Handa briefing on Saturday, Dr. Rontgene Solante backed the tightening of restrictions, with some local government units reporting manpower shortage and increasing hospital capacity.
“Alam naman natin na ang (We all know that) escalation to a higher alert level will always be dictated by the number of cases,” Solante said when asked to comment on calls to place certain jurisdictions under the stricter Alert Level 4.
“With the hospital facilities now, shortage of health care workers and most of those patients with high transmissibility sa community then I would think… in my opinion, we need a higher level than what we have now,” he also said.
Metro Manila and over a dozen more areas were placed under Alert Level 3 due to the continuous uptick in coronavirus infections.
On Saturday, the Philippines reached another grim milestone, recording 26,458 fresh cases — the highest single-day tally since the pandemic began.
