The de-escalation of more regions and provinces to the most lenient Alert Level 1 system is vital to the total recovery of the Philippine economy, Presidential Adviser on Covid-19 response, Secretary Vince Dizon, said Thursday.

Dizon, who is also the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 deputy chief implementer, earlier said the fourth wave of the national vaccination drive (NVD) has brought at least nine provinces and highly urbanized cities (HUCs) on the list of areas de-escalated to Alert Level 1 system.

Among these provinces and cities are Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Batangas, Lucena City, Iloilo City, Cebu City, Ormoc City, Tacloban City and Butuan City.

“We are trying to push all other provinces and cities to really achieve these levels of vaccination so that they can also deescalate to Alert Level 1 at the soonest possible time, hopefully within this month, so that they can all help the economy move forward,” he said.

“The de-escalation should be continuous, and we will only be able to do this if we will help one another, and if we all have discipline amongst ourselves,” he added.

More than 1.4 million have been administered during the NVD 4 as of Wednesday.

Central Luzon, Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Central Visayas, and Ilocos Region were the areas that have administered the higher number of vaccine doses during the massive vaccination drive that started on March 10.

The NVD 4 is extended until Friday to select regions and provinces nationwide.

Dizon said the positive development is “very timely” to the country’s efforts towards total economic recovery.

“Kasi kailangan po talaga nating paandarin ang ating ekonomiya para labanan ang mga problema natin tulad ng pagtaas ng presyo ng krudo at kuryente (Because we need to operate our economy to address problems such as fuel and electricity price hike),” he added. (PNA)