Metro Manila is "ready" for a shift to the proposed pandemic Alert Level Zero, a Malacañang adviser said Monday, around two years since the government started placing the country under quarantine to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Home to more than 13 million people, the capital region is under Alert 1 until March 15, which allows businesses to open at full capacity. Experts and government advisers are studying a possible shift to Alert 0, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said last week.

"Definitely, NCR is ready for Level 0," said Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Secretary Joey Concepcion.

"It will boost confidence that the Philippines has been able to achieve moving away from a pandemic," he said in a televised public briefing.

He said coronavirus infections did not spike even after Metro Manila and 38 other areas were placed under Alert 1, and despite campaign sorties that drew huge crowds.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire had said that the effect of the implementation of Alert Level 1 in those areas will be seen 10 to 14 days later.

Concepcion noted that the capital region's healthcare capacity was “well intact.”

He also suggested allowing business owners to set their own protocols under Alert Level Zero, including whether or not to require vaccination cards.

"Let the business owners decide on it. Kasi customer-centric naman sila. Kung sa tingin nila, gusto ng mga customer nila, the area will be safe, then they will still require vaccination cards, booster cards," Concepcion said.

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The National Capital Region accounts for about a third of the country's gross domestic product.

It was the first area in the country that was placed under quarantine, beginning March 15, 2020, halting travel in and out, and suspending classes, among some measures imposed to control the spread of COVID-19.

The community quarantine was later expanded to cover initially the entire Luzon beginning March 16, 2020.

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The country has logged more than 3.67 million confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Sunday, of which, 46,537 are active. The health department said 564 additional cases were recorded on Sunday.

A Chinese woman who arrived from Wuhan City, China, where the disease is believed to have first emerged, was the Philippines' first COVID-19 case. It was confirmed on Jan. 30, 2020.

• Philippines confirms first case of new coronavirus