MANILA— Local chief executives in Metro Manila will impose unified looser quarantine restrictions once the region shifts to Alert Level 3 starting this weekend, a mayor said Thursday.

"Ang agreement namin diyan ay isang polisiya lang. Ano 'yung guidelines na ilalabas po ng IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force), 'yun lang ang ipapatupad namin," Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco told TeleRadyo.

(Our agreement is to have a unified policy. We will implement whatever guidelines the IATF will release.)

• Metro Manila on COVID-19 Alert Level 3 from Oct. 16 to 31

The sprawling capital region, home to over 13 million people, will be placed under Alert Level 3 from Oct. 16 to 31 amid improving COVID-19 case numbers.

Several establishments will be allowed to operate at up to 30 percent of indoor venue capacity for fully vaccinated individuals and up to 50 percent outdoor capacity.

In the interview, he also clarified that Metro Manila mayors didn't recommend easing quarantine restrictions.

"First of all, let us clarify, we didn’t recommend. Our opinion was not even asked. Hindi naman kami tinanong kung anong gusto naming alert level (We were not asked what alert level we want)," he said.

He noted though there was no question that LGUs want looser restrictions to support the economy.

According to the Department of Health's COVID-19 Tracker, the National Capital Region recorded 1,257 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, raising its tally to 833,898.

The tally includes 16,281 active cases while 9,967 have succumbed to the respiratory disease.

As of Oct. 12, the bed occupancy rate in NCR was at 48.5 percent, which means 5,181 out of 10,674 beds were occupied.

Some 111 facilities were considered at the "safe" level (less than 60 percent occupied), 14 at "moderate" (60 to 70 percent occupied), 15 at "high risk" (70 to 85 percent occupied) and 17 are "critical" (more than 85 percent occupied).

To date, some 7 million people in Metro Manila have completed their COVID-19 vaccination.

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