CONTACT TRACING – A contact tracing team from the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) of Quezon City conducts house to house tracing of possible COVID-19 patients in Brgy. Baesa in this photo taken last July. The DILG saod that it has hired over 10,000 out f the targeted 50,000 additional contact tracers to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. (INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE)
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Monday said it has already hired 10,136 of the target 50,000 additional contact tracers to augment the country’s workforce against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“Ito pong mga na-hire nating contact tracers, karamihan po dito ay tapos na sa kanilang training. At inaasahan po natin na sa pagsisimula ng linggong ito, sila ay madedeploy na ng iba’t-ibang DILG filed offices sa iba’t-ibang mga LGUs (local government units),”Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said in an online media forum hosted by the Department of Health (DOH).
(These are the contact tracers we have hired, most of them have already finished their training. And we hope that by the start of this week, they will be deployed by various DILG filed offices to the different LGUs.)
Contact tracers are health workers who track down the close contacts of people who have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2—the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The hiring of the additional contact tracers is made possible by the signing into law of the “Bayanihan to Recover as One Act” otherwise known as Bayanihan 2.
Contact tracing teams are composite units led by the municipal/city health officers with members from the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTS), and volunteers from civil society organizations (CSOs).
As of Sunday, Oct. 4, there are 322,497 confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide, including 273,079 recoveries and 5,776 deaths.