MANILA — The Philippines expects P9.4 billion in economic activity from the upcoming shift of Metro Manila and other areas to the loosest of COVID-19 alert levels this March, Malacañang said on Monday.

The capital region and 38 other areas from Tuesday will be placed for the first time under Alert Level 1, which allows establishments to operate at 100-percent on-site capacity.

Several other areas were de-escalated to Alert 2 from Alert 3, noted Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles.

"Ang expectations po natin na additional is P9.4 billion worth in economic activity per week and 170,000 less unemployed individuals in the next 3 months kung tuloy-tuloy pa po itong pag-a-Alert Level 1 natin," he said, quoting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua.

(Our expectations are an additional P9.4 billion worth in economic activity per week and 170,000 less unemployed individuals in the next 3 months if our Alert 1 continues.)

Chua is expected to expound on these projections in a meeting later Monday with President Rodrigo Duterte, Nograles said in a press briefing.

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The country "needs" the shift to Alert 1, given the potential economic fallout from Russia's military action in Ukraine, said OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David.

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"We have to be able to keep up with the economic impact and this is one way… We have to take some risks din and reopen the economy," he said in a televised public briefing.

Alert 1 retains the mandatory use of anti-virus masks and requires adults to present proof of COVID-19 vaccination in some establishments.

"We support the guidelines…These are reasonable," David said in a public briefing. "Wala namang (nothing is) perfect and we have to take some risks din, but we think the risks are minimal."

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"Ang nakikita naman natin, mababa na rin iyong cases dito sa other regions na inilagay sa Alert Level 1, so hopefully ‘pag mataas iyong vaccine coverage nila, mami-mitigate iyong possible infections," he added.

(We see that cases are low in other regions placed under Alert Level 1, so hopefully if their vaccine coverage is high, possible infections could be mitigated.)