Mayor John Dalipe is set to convene the local Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19 (IATF) anytime this week to discuss measures and strategies amidst the heightened alert level imposed by the national IATF in some areas from April 15-30, 2023 with some restrictions that need to be followed.

Based on Resolution No. 6-C series of 2023, the National IATF placed 26 areas under Alert Level 2 and the rest of the country including Zamboanga City, under Alert Level 1. 

Based on the resolution, areas under Alert Level 2 are mandated to implement restrictions such as a 50 percent capacity in establishments indoors for fully vaccinated adults and 70 percent capacity outdoors while areas under Alert Level 1 permits intrazonal and interzonal travel with no restrictions based on age and co-morbidities.

The City Health Office (CHO) recorded 8 confirmed active cases with 1 new case in Zamboanga City as of April 22, 2023. All these cases are in the community.

The number of confirmed cases recovered is 30,226 or 95% while mortalities totaled 1,335 or 4%, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

In a national news, the Department of Health (DOH) clarified that the 26 cities were not escalated from Alert Level 1, “rather, these have maintained their Alert Level 2 status since June 2022.”

“While these areas have reached low-risk classifications for cases and utilization rates, these have vaccination rates lower than 70% of the target total and population and/or 70% of the total A2 population (senior citizens),” said the DOH.