File photo MANILA - Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion has urged the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to de-escalate to Alert Level 1 starting next month. This, as the trend of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases is expected to slow down to around 1,000 to 2,000 cases based on OCTA Research Group's outlook. "We need to de-escalate our countrymen from crisis mode to recovery mode. This is important if Filipinos have to come out and help rebuild our country by engaging in economic activity like going to shops, dining out, traveling or going back to work," Concepcion said in a statement Tuesday. He also recommends allowing all establishments to operate under a lower alert level. Aside from supporting the economic recovery, the Go Negosyo founder added that moving to Alert Level 1 will provide an opportunity for the country to see how well it will manage the condition by relying only on adhering to minimum public health protocols. Concepcion is batting for gradual lifting of alert level systems in areas with high vaccination rate like Metro Manila. "I think that as long as there are no variants of concern, and we have already achieved a high vaccination rate and hospital utilization rate is low, we can already start to consider lifting alert levels," he said. Metro Manila, Batanes, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, Biliran, Southern Leyte, and Basilan are currently placed under Alert Level 2. (PNA) }