QC gov’t urges all city hospitals, labs to send list of people tested for COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines —  The Quezon City government on Thursday urged private and private hospitals and laboratories to submit to city hall a copy of the list of people who were tested for COVID-19 in a bid to hasten the city’s contact tracing efforts.

In a statement, Quezon City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) head Dr. Rolly Cruz said the copy of the list, called the “line list,” is used as a basis in monitoring close contacts of COVID-19 probable and suspected cases.

Previously, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte wrote a letter to Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III, saying that the department was failing to give complete information on some COVID-19 patients, thus delaying the city’s contact tracing efforts.

“We have to be proactive and get the line list from other sources aside from the national government,” Cruz said.

The lead coordinator of the city’s COVID-19 response program Joseph Juico, meanwhile, said the delay in contact tracing can cause “damaging ripple effects.”

“If data is incomplete and delayed, instead of nipping infections in the bud, we end up locking down whole communities for 14 days,  because the virus has already spread,” Juico said.

“If we have patients’ complete contact details immediately, we can prevent them from infecting others and arrest community transmission,” he added.

As of Aug. 12, the Philippines has 143,749 COVID-19 cases, with 68,997 recoveries and 2,404 deaths.

Of the total cases, 8,016 were recorded in Quezon City, according to data provided by the LGU. [ac]