Metro Manila will be shifting to an alert level system with Alert Level 4 starting Thursday, September 16 until September 30.
Alert Level 4 is similar to the previous General Community Quarantine or GCQ with heightened restrictions.
Under Alert Level 4, persons below 18 years old and over 65 years old, those with health comorbidities, and pregnant women are not allowed to go out of their houses.
They will only be allowed to go out if they are buying essential goods or services.
Indoor visitor or tourist attractions, indoor leisure centers, gyms, recreational venues, gaming establishments, mass gatherings, meetings, and staycations will be prohibited.
Outdoor dine-in services, barbershops, hair spas, nail spas, beauty salons, and physical religious gatherings are allowed to operate for up to 30% of their capacity.
Indoor dining will be allowed but only for those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Alert Level 5 is the strictest form of alert level equivalent to the enhanced community quarantine or ECQ.
The Department of Health will determine the alert levels. Local government units, meanwhile, will have the authority to impose granular lockdowns subject to approval of the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force.
Under the new guidelines, the new community quarantine classifications will have five Alert Levels that would determine the activities allowed in cities and/or municipalities.
* Alert Level 1 – refers to areas wherein case transmission is low and decreasing, total bed utilization rate, and intensive care unit utilization rate is low.
* Alert Level 2 – refers to areas wherein case transmission is low and decreasing, healthcare utilization is low, or case counts are low but increasing, or case counts are low and decreasing but total bed utilization rate and intensive care unit utilization rate is increasing.
*Alert Level 3 – refers to areas wherein case counts are high and/or increasing, with total bed utilization rate and intensive care unit utilization rate at increasing utilization.
* Alert Level 4 – refers to areas wherein case counts are high and/or increasing, with total bed utilization rate and intensive care unit utilization rate are high.
*Alert Level 5 – refers to areas wherein case counts are alarming, with total bed utilization rate and intensive care unit utilization rate at critical level.
