METROPOLITAN Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Officer-in-Charge and General Manager Atty. Romando Artes announced on Monday that all mayors of Metro Manila (Metro Manila Council) unanimously approved to retain the Alert Level 2 in the capital region until the end of February.

The Metro Manila Council (MMC), composed of the 17 Metro Manila mayors, is the governing and policy-making body of the MMDA.

“Metro mayors have considered three important reasons. In addition, only five out of 17 local government units (LGUs) in the NCR have a low-risk classification for COVID-19 transmission, while the rest have a moderate risk classification,” Artes said.

“There is an urgent need to further await an improvement in the risk classifications of the 12 Metro Manila LGUs which are presently under moderate classification; the economic gains and advancement in health care which were realized in the past weeks under Alert Level 2 must be preserved, maintained, and improved; and a less stringent alert level in the NCR may potentially result in super spreader events in the region especially with the start of the May 2022 election campaign period,” cited in MMDA Resolution No. 22-04, series of 2022.

Also, Artes said that since the campaign period for national candidates has officially started, he appealed to practice caution in public places.

“We have seen a lot of candidates holding political activities such as motorcades and caravans. Hence, we do not want a COVID-19 super spreader event,” Artes reiterated.

Citing the Department of Health’s COVID-19 Situationer in the NCR as of 12 February 2022, the region accounts for 32% of the confirmed cases nationwide while the distribution of RT-PCR tests done and positivity rates by LGU shows a Regional Average positivity rate of 7.32%.

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Edd Reyes