More contact tracing teams to be sent to Cebu City
CEBU CITY –– More contact tracing teams will be deployed here starting Thursday, July 16, as the government ramps up efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Assistant Secretary Alexander Macario of the Department of Interior and Local Government said the new contact tracing teams would be sent alongside existing groups to identify persons who had contact with COVID-19 patients.
Asked if the teams could force households to submit themselves to contact tracing, Macario did not give a definite answer.
“We have to consult the barangay captain who knows better to convince (people) that contact tracing is necessary. We will rely so much on the barangay captain,” he said.
The list of targeted individuals in contact tracing would be provided by the Cebu City Health Department, Macario said.
Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of the Central Visayas police, said Cebu City has 79 contact tracing teams.
At least 40 teams were already deployed, while the additional 39 will start operating on Thursday.
Ferro said they would ask help from the Bureau of Fire Protection so they could organize 40 more teams.
The police general said they are targeting to have at least 130 contact tracing teams in the city.
LZB
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