Año calls for creation of barangay response teams amid nCoV threat

MANILA, Philippines – Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año on Sunday ordered local governments to form Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) that will help stop the possible spread of the novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019 nCoV ARD) in the community level.

“We have to prepare, God forbids, for the possible eventuality that 2019 nCoV ARD reaches our communities,” said Año in a statement. “I therefore order our local chief executives to organize BHERTs in all barangays as our effort to be one step ahead of the virus. Kailangan nating paghandaan ito.”

According to Año, BHERTs must be composed of an executive officer, a barangay public safety officer, and two barangay health workers — one of them a nurse or a midwife.

These members, who will be appointed by the barangay chairperson, will serve as the “the eyes and ears of the government” by making sure that residents within their jurisdictions are all accounted for and are fully informed about the nCoV.

Among their duties is to visit the homes of residents who recently arrived from a coronavirus-affected country and list down the names of people they have had contact with.

READ: Duterte orders temporary travel ban on visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau

BHERTs will then require the said residents to record daily their body temperature for the next 14 days of home confinement and to observe possible symptoms, which according to the Department of Health (DOH) include coughs and colds, fever, and difficulty in breathing.

If a resident manifests symptoms, BHERTs must immediately isolate them and have them transferred to a DOH-designated coronavirus-referral center or hospital for tests and treatment.

Family members of suspected coronavirus carriers must also be placed on a 14-day home confinement and repeat the process of checking, including contact tracing.

“Tayo ay humaharap sa isang krisis, at lubhang napakahalaga ng pakikiisa ng mga barangay at mga mamamayan upang mapagtagumpayan natin ang suliraning ito,” said Año.

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