Iloilo City will be joining 39 other areas under the Alert Level 1 status starting Friday until March 15, Malacañang announced Thursday.

Acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved the recommendation after the city met the prescribed criteria for a lower alert level status.

“The Inter-Agency Task Force on Thursday, March 10, 2022, approved the de-escalation of Iloilo City to Alert Level 1 after meeting the prescribed criteria for de-escalation to Alert Level 1 of the sub-Technical Working Group on Data Analytics,” Andanar said in a press statement.

In a March 8 letter, Iloilo City mayor Jerry Treñas appealed to de-escalate the alert level system in the city from Alert Level 2 to Alert Level 1 citing a “drastic decrease” in the number of Covid-19 cases.

“With tight surveillance, stringent implementation of health protocols, massive RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) testing, swift isolation of close contacts with concomitant disinfection, Covid-19 infection in Iloilo City has dramatically decreased. This significant data must be given preferential attention and considerable weight to merit the de-escalation of our alert level status to Level 1,” Treñas said in his letter.

Metro Manila and 38 other areas are under Alert Level 1 until March 15.

Socioeconomic planning secretary Karl Chua on Monday said placing the entire country under Alert Level 1 will help cushion the economic impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

However, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said he is not in favor of placing the entire country under the lowest alert level at this point.

In its weekly reporting format, the Department of Health (DOH) on Monday recorded 6,297 new Covid-19 infections from March 1 to 7.

The agency will now be releasing weekly case bulletins on Mondays. (PNA)