Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said it is better to wait ''a little longer'' to see if Alert Level One will be declared in Metro Manila.

"Let us wait a little longer. Once the decrease continues and we reach the threshold for Alert Level 1, then we will do that," said Duque during the launch of vaccination for five to 11-year-old children in Quezon City.

Metro Manila, which was at Alert Level Three last month, was placed under Alert Level 2 until February 15. The Inter-Agency Task Force is expected to decide if Metro Manila will be under Alert Level 1 this week.

He said the two-week growth rate and the average daily attack rate are at low risk and moderate risk, respectively.

Duque said the COVID-19 bed utilization and ICU bed use are both at low risk.

Earlier, an infectious disease expert said it is "too early" for Metro Manila to go down to Alert Level One next week.

"In my opinion, we still need to stay in Alert Level Two. It's too early and it's too drastic to change into a lower alert level like one. Let us first see in the next two weeks if the cases will further improve," Rontgene Solante, a member of government's vaccine expert panel said during the ''Laging Handa'' virtual public briefing on Monday.

Solante said COVID-19 cases are still high.

"If the cases went down ,then let see because it's quite hard to lower the alert level. Remember the cases are still high. We also see that the transmission is still high and we need to be vigilant about these numbers that we should not just continue to lower the alert level," he said.

"We're still in the pandemic period. We have to improve the vaccination, especially now that we have the 5 to 11 years old. Don't forget to wear face masks and avoid gatherings, especially the unimportant events," he added.

The Department of Health said that Metro Manila is at moderate risk.

In a report Sunday, OCTA Research said Metro Manila had 1,271 cases as of February 6. It forecast that the metropolis would go below 1,000 cases this month. DMS/Robina Asido