Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 26) – Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said on Monday he would push to lift the Public Health Emergency declaration in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Wala nang emergency diba [There’s no more emergency right]?… I think I would actually ask the lifting of the Public Health Emergency in the country,” Herbosa told reporters.
He likened COVID-19 to other common illnesses, “It’s just one of the diseases we monitor just like influenza and cough, colds, etc.,” he said
Based on the agency’s latest tracker, 66,482 people in the Philippines died due to COVID-19. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) showed 6,945,714 deaths worldwide from the coronavirus.
“The alert level system will stay kasi [because] that’s a system like the typhoon signal that stays but actually, parang hindi na siya [it’s as if it’s no longer] a public health emergency,” Herbosa said.
Former President Rodrido Duterte first declared a public health emergency over COVID-19 and a state of calamity in March 2020.
In May 2023, the WHO said COVID-19 was no longer a public health emergency of international concern.
READ: WHO says COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency
However, shortly after the WHO’s declaration, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the country’s COVID-19 health status stays.
