MANILA -- The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Thursday, October 28, 2021, approved the recommendation to further expand the pilot implementation of the Alert Levels System starting November 1, 2021 to Regions 3, 6, and 10, and Baguio City as an area for special monitoring.

Beginning November 1 until November 14, 2021, the following provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities shall be placed under the following alert levels:

Aurora, Bacolod City, Negros Oriental, and Davao Occidental shall be placed under Alert Level 4.

Bataan, the National Capital Region, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Iloilo City, Siquijor, Lanao del Norte, Davao City, and Davao del Norte shall be placed under Alert Level 3. Baguio City was included as an area for special monitoring and shall also be placed under Alert Level 3.

Under Alert Level 2 are Angeles City, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Olongapo City, Pampanga, Tarlac, Batangas, Quezon Province, Lucena City, Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Cebu Province, Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro City, Camiguin, Iligan City, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Davao de Oro, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.

The IATF likewise approved the risk-level classifications of provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities that are not yet included in the expanded Alert Levels System implementation.

Mountain Province, Catanduanes, and Zamboanga City shall be under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) from November 1 until November 15, 2021.

Abra, Cagayan, Isabela, City of Santiago, Nueva Vizcaya, and Quirino shall be placed under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions from November 1 until November 30, 2021.

Placed under GCQ for the whole month of November 2021 are Ifugao, Benguet, Apayao, Kalinga, Ilocos Sur, Dagupan City, Batanes, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Albay, Naga City, Camarines Norte, Tacloban City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, General Santos City, Sarangani, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Butuan City, Dinagat Islands, Cotabato City, and Lanao del Sur.

All other areas not mentioned shall be placed under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) for the whole month of November 2021.

Meanwhile, the IATF approved and released its updated Red, Green, and Yellow List effective November 1 until November 15, 2021.

Latvia shall be classified under Red List.

Countries/jurisdictions/territories under Green List include Algeria, American Samoa, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, China (Mainland), Comoros, Cook Islands, Eritrea, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China), Kiribati, Madagascar, Mali, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Montserrat, Nauru, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Niue, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Poland, Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of Netherlands), Saint Helena, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Sint Eustatius, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu and Yemen.

All other countries/jurisdictions/territories not mentioned shall be under the Yellow List.

In a related matter, the IATF expanded to the Yellow List the limited international transit hub operations that was previously approved for countries/territories/jurisdictions in the Green List. However, the operations shall be limited to airside transfers between Terminals 1 and 2, and within Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The IATF likewise approved the creation of a sub-Technical Working Group headed by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) that would formulate and propose recommendations for special pilot testing and quarantine protocols for Filipinos, balikbayans, and their families coming from Green and Yellow Lists.

Also approved is the recommendation of the DOTr for the gradual increase of passenger capacity in public transportation for road-based and rail transportation plying Metro Manila and its adjacent provinces from 70 percent to full capacity starting November 4, 2021.

On vaccination-related matter, the IATF approved the recommended strategies for the vaccination rollout for the rest of the pediatric population to achieve the vaccination rate of 80 percent of the target population by December 2021.

In addition, the IATF adopted the recommendations on VaxCertPH, including opening requests for COVID-19 digital vaccination certificates for domestic use. All local government units (LGUs) that do not have electronic vaccine administration systems shall be required to adopt and use the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Vaccine Administration System (DVAS) for recording and databasing of all vaccination information.

The DICT is further directed to provide twice a week updates regarding the regional status of submission compliance of vaccination data to the Vaccine Information Management System (VIMS) central database, while the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is directed to reiterate its national memorandum to all LGUs on the importance of submission of vaccination data to the VIMS central database.

Indoor certification/qualifying examinations of testing centers were also recognized by the IATF as specialty exams that are allowed under the Guidelines on the Implementation of Alert Levels System for COVID-19 Response in Pilot Areas, except in areas under Alert Level 5, provided all workers and employees of these testing centers and their examinees are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, there is compliance with prescribed venue capacity, and the minimum public health standards are maintained.

Finally, the IATF approved amendments to the Guidelines on the Implementation of Alert Levels System for COVID-19 Response in Pilot Areas related to the operations of hotels and accommodation establishments, and amendments to the rules to be observed for validating vaccination status under IATF Resolution No. 144-A. (OPS)