IATF: Laguna placed under Alert Level 3 amid spike in COVID-19 cases

The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases has placed Laguna under a stricter Alert Level 3 following the sudden rise of COVID-19 cases in the province.

The designation takes effect on January 7 and will last until January 15, 2022.

"The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) approved tonight, January 5, 2022, the recommendation of its sub-Technical Working Group on Data Analytics to escalate Laguna to Alert Level 3, due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the province," said Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles in a statement.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data in 2020, Laguna has a total population of 3,382,193. The province also belongs to the Calabarzon region, which PSA dubbed as the biggest population in pandemic-hit year 2020, with total population of 16,195,042.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier revealed that the DOH Epidemiology Bureau could be placed under Alert Level 3 due to the sharp increase of infections.

On Tuesday, Malacañang announced that Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal will be placed under Alert Level 3 starting January 3 to 15, 2022.

The government also earlier placed Metro Manila under Alert Level 3 from January 3 to 15, 2022.

Under Alert Level 3, several establishments will be allowed to operate at 30% indoor venue capacity only for fully vaccinated individuals and 50% outdoor venue capacity, provided that all employees are fully vaccinated.

Face-to-face classes, contact sports, funfairs/perya, and casinos are among the activities and establishments that are prohibited under Alert Level 3.

Work at government offices is limited to 60% of their onsite capacity.

Under Alert Level 2,  several activities and establishments may work at 50% capacity indoors for fully vaccinated adults (and minors, even if unvaccinated) and 70% capacity outdoors.

Agencies and government offices may work at 80% of their onsite capacity.

Casinos, horse racing, cockfighting and operation of cockpits, lottery and betting shops, and other gaming establishments are not allowed to operate under this alert level system, except as may be authorized by the Office of the President or the Inter Agency Task Force.—NB, GMA News