Better holiday season ahead for Filipinos—Spox. Roque

With the evident decrease in the daily tally of COVID-19 cases and continuous lowering of the average daily attack rate (ADAR) in the Philippines, Filipinos may be able to enjoy a better holiday season this year.

According to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, the country is now classified as 'low risk' for COVID-19, thus the alert level may be further lowered so that more businesses can open and revive the economy.

Pinoys are known to celebrate the "longest Christmas," and with the continuous decline in the number of recorded COVID-19 cases in the country, more people may enjoy their ‘Noche Buena’ as the economy reopens. 

Roque said they are currently waiting for the ADAR to fall from 7.7 percent to 7 percent prior to deciding on downgrading the alert level.

Under the currently imposed Alert Level 3, some social gatherings are already allowed in the National Capital Region and its neighboring provinces. Establishments are also allowed to operate with 50 percent capacity, but children are still not permitted to go indoors, such as in malls.

Presidential spokesman Roque, however, still reminded the public to be mindful of minimum health protocols and restrictions. He told the public to not put to waste all the sacrifices and long periods of waiting we endured just because of Christmas.

Policies for holiday gatherings and special holiday parties will be taken up by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Diseases IATF soon.

In case of a surge in COVID cases due to the Christmas season, the spokesman noted that the IATF will immediately act to impose strict quarantine restrictions.

Related article: PH records lowest COVID-19 cases in 8 months with 2,303 new cases