File photo shows a contact tracing team from the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) of Quezon City conducting house to house tracing of possible COVID-19 patients in Brgy. Baesa on last year. (INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE)
MANILA, Philippines — The integration between the StaySafe.ph application and the local government units (LGUs) respective contact-tracing apps will finally begin this Monday, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said.
In a televised briefing, DILG spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said StaySafe.ph developer Multisys will finally turn over the application to the agency as the end-user and head of the task group on contact tracing of the National Task Force Against COVID-19.
“Ngayong hapon po ay irerelaunch ng DILG at ng Multisys, ituturnover na po yung StaySafe app sa DILG ngayong hapon in a ceremonial turnover,” Malaya said.
(This afternoon, the DILG and the Multisys will relaunch the StaySafe app after it is turned over to the DILG.)
“And immediately after that ay sisimulan na po natin yung interconnection o interconnectivity ng mga local contact tracing apps sa ating national StaySafe application. Finally matu-turnover na po sa amin yan sa DILG. Mas maayos na po,” he added.
(Immediately after that, we will begin the interconnection or interconnectivity of local contact tracing apps to the national StaySafe application. Finally, it will be turned over to the DILG, it will be more orderly now.)
It was back in November 2020 when the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) made the use of StayStay.ph app mandatory for national government agencies and LGUs.
Despite this, lawmakers found there was still no unified national contact tracing system following the emergence of various contact tracing applications.
Even Malacañang had admitted that contact tracing is the “weakest” point in the government’s COVID-19 response.