MANILA - Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso on Sunday announced heightened restrictions in the City of Manila as the National Capital Region (NCR) returned to Alert Level 3 on Jan. 3.

In Facebook live stream video, Domagoso said he had an emergency meeting with Manila’s medical sectors along with the city’s health authorities to present their plan and preparations that they will use as guidelines in the coming weeks and months in preventing the further spread of COVID-19.

From an average of 70 to 90 COVID-19 patients, Manila’s active cases climbed to 574 as of 5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 2.

The local government unit announced the following restrictions in relation to shifting back to Alert Level 3 starting Monday:

• Suspension of face-to-face classes for early childhood, primary, and secondary levels of education
• Implementation of a 10 p.m. – 4 a.m. curfew for minors
• Unvaccinated minors and adults will be forbidden from entering malls and utilizing public transportation vehicles
• Manila City Hall to operate at 30 percent capacity.

• Face to face classes suspended in Metro Manila as COVID cases rise

Domagoso also mentioned the status of Manila hospitals and health facilities with regard to their current COVID-19 response.

He stated that the estimated inventory of oxygen tanks is at 68,700 liters of oxygen reserves; medicine supply of Remdesivir stands at 3935; and 732 Tocilizumab, 22,758 Molnupiravir, 3520 Baricitinib are on hand.

Manila’s 12 areas quarantine facilities were also activated as of Saturday which have 530 beds capacity, plus 200 beds of dormitels.

“Sama-sama tayong kakaharapin itong hamon ng bagong taon sa bawat isa sa atin na idinudulot na panganib nitong Omicron,” he said.

(We will face this threat of Omicron variant together this new year as a challenge.)

“Mga kababayan, bago ako matapos, ang aking pakisuyo lang sa bawat isa sa inyo… at sa lahat ng ating kababayang dumadayo dito sa Lungsod ng Maynila, ako naman nakiki-suyo. Kusang dispilina. Pagmalasakitan nyo ang inyong sarili na mag-ingat na ma-impeksyon ng COVID-19," Domagoso added.

(My dear fellowmen, before I end this message, I have a favor to ask… and to everyone who visits Manila City, I have a favor to ask. Voluntary discipline. Please be concerned with yourselves and be careful in getting infected with COVID-19.)

The Manila mayor also assured his constituents that the local government will support its citizens and will assist them in every possible way it can during this time of need.

The Philippine Inter-Agency Task Force Against COVID-19 had announced that Metro Manila will return to Alert Level 3 classification on Jan. 3 as new COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the country as it recorded 4,600 new COVID-cases on January 2.

• Philippines confirms 4,600 COVID-19 cases; daily tally up 14.5x in just 7 days

According to ABS-CBN Data Analytics, the 7-day average of 1,400 cases in NCR, Sunday, is the highest since October 17 of last year.