Metro Manila Remains Under Alert Level 1 Until May 31

Metro Manila, along with other provinces, will stay under Alert Level 1 until the end of the month, according to the latest guidelines from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

The National Capital Region (NCR) will continue to adopt the most relaxed COVID-19 measures in the country until May 31, boding well for pandemic-hit businesses that have only begun recouping their losses recently.

As of writing, 79 provinces, highly urbanized cities (HUCs) and independent component cities (ICCs), as well as 160 cities and municipalities, are classified under Alert Level 1.

The latest measure comes amid a warning from the Department of Health (DOH) against a possible rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the face of the new Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1. The said subvariant has already been detected in the Philippines.