DILG: 10,000 additional contact tracers needed for Metro Manila

A contact tracing team of the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) of the Quezon City government conducts house to house tracing of possible COVID-19 patients in Brgy. Baesa on Wednesday, July 15. The LGU hired 300 new contact tracers to assist in tracking down persons who are possibly exposed to the coronavirus. The team is accompanied by a plain clothes police officer. INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines —More than 10,000 additional contact tracers amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) will be hired for Metro Manila due to its large population, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Thursday.

“Sa Metro Manila, may 13 million na tao. We have around 4,000 contact tracers so we would need to hire more than 10,000 contact tracers in Metro Manila,” DILG spokesman and Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said on ABS-CBN Teleradyo.

Malaya said this will follow the required ratio of the World Health Organization of one contact tracer per 800 people.

The DILG said ideal candidates are graduates of medical courses and criminology, Malaya said.

“Ang hinahanap namin, first priority, graduate ng allied medical courses at criminology. Second priority ay college level ng mga kursong ito. Kung wala, graduate level of any course,” he said.

(Our first priority are graduates of allied medical course and criminology. Second priority would be the college level of these courses. If none, graduate level of any course.)

The DILG official said hired contact tracers will undergo training at the Local Government Academy or Philippine Public Safety College.

Applicants for contact tracers must submit a transcript of records, application letter, NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) clearance, personal data sheet, and take a drug test, Malaya said.

Malaya said once the Department of Budget and Management releases the budget, DILG will start the hiring process.

Previously, the DILG said 50,000 contact tracers would be hired to ramp up contact tracing efforts nationwide.

Under the proposed Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, which is awaiting the signature of the President, P5 billion was allocated for the hiring and training of contact tracers.

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