LIPA CITY – WITH the whole province now under Alert Level 2, local traders and officials are optimistic that Batangas should be on its way to a more robust and vibrant trade and commerce activities with the expected relaxation of quarantine restrictions.
Mayor Eric Africa personally announced the good news as he also sought to dispel online rumors that most parts of the province will remain at more restrictive Alert Level 3 except for Lipa City.
According to sources, Mayor Eric Africa even personally called the National Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to make sure that the new IATF-MEID directive includes his city.
Infographic
And so on the following day, he posted an official announcement.
“Ayon sa IATF, ang Lungsod ng Lipa ay kasama sa mga lugar na nasa Alert Level 2 mula bukas, Pebrero 16 hanggang Pebrero 28, 2022,” so said Africa on his city’s official Facebook page.
This was also backed up by an infographic saying just that.
Insiders said the local chief executive sought his city’s inclusion as the new pandemic category would redound into a more vibrant business environment and will also open up more job opportunities for the people of Lipa.
Lower cases
The mayor reported that the announcement was timely as his city is right now actually experiencing a diminished number of Covid cases.
In fact, Africa said, Lipa only had seven fresh new cases last Wednesday (16 Feb 2022) even as it also experienced a high number of Covid recoveries of 37 patients on the same day.
Active cases in the city are also on the wane.
From around a thousand at the height of the Omicron surge last month, Lipa now only has 132 Covid patients still undergoing treatment or recuperating.
In all, recoveries of Covid patients in Lipa already reached a high of 11,610.
Sound response
And it can be said that the city of Lipa may have the soundest Covid response hereabouts.
It has in stock free anti-Covid drugs like Remdesivir and others for citizens who might get hit by the virus.
Antigen tests are also free. All Lipeños need to do is come forward and have their names listed at the city health office.
The last time that Batangas was put under Alert Level 2 was on November 5, 2021, as the IATF considered it as an area with a “very low risk of infection.”
Aside from Batangas, other Calabarzon-member provinces in Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, Lucena City, and Quezon Province in Region 4-A are now under the Alert Level 2 category.
Aside from Calabarzon, more provinces in the country are now under Alert Level 2.
The IATF retained the Alert Level 2 status of the National Capital Region, Malacañang said Monday.
More relax
Under Alert Level 2, restaurants, personal care establishments, gyms, and fitness studios are allowed to operate at 50 percent of indoor capacity for fully vaccinated individuals.
This also accordingly applies to meeting venues, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions; permitted venues for social events; visitor or tourist attractions, such as libraries, museums, galleries, parks, and public gardens; amusement parks and theme parks; recreational venues, such as internet cafes and amusement arcades; cinemas and movie houses; in-person religious gatherings and gatherings for necrological services and wakes the IATF said.
Limited in-person classes for higher education and for technical-vocational training are also allowed and with licensure examinations administered by government agencies; film, music, and television production.
Meanwhile, contact sports must be approved first by local government units where the games would be held; funfairs or kid amusement industries; venues with live voice or wind-instrument performers, such as karaoke bars and concert halls; and gatherings with individuals not belonging to the same household.
In short, after all, is said and done, the business will thrive again under the less restrictive Alert Level 2.