69,000 contact tracers deployed

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s contact tracing capability is now at 98 percent, with over 69,000 contact tracers deployed nationwide amid the spike in the number of coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 cases, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) reported yesterday.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said a total of 69,098 contact tracers assigned to 5,215 teams have been deployed to assist communities in monitoring COVID-19 patients and their close contacts.

With a 98.2 percent contact tracing capacity, a total of 161,975 contacts have been traced for 47,474 out of 48,371 cases of COVID-19 recorded in the country, according to Año.

“Our local contact tracing teams are working double-time to interrupt the transmission and reduce the spread of COVID-19 infections. This way, we can cover all the bases in the end-to-end trace-test-treat (T3) management system against the virus,” he said.

Año said they would hire additional contact tracers with the help of volunteers in communities, who are helping in efforts to monitor and search for close contacts of COVID-19 patients.

The DILG’s plan to hire another 50,000 contact tracers is still awaiting approval from the Department of Budget and Management.

Only five regions have achieved a 100 percent contact tracing capability: Mimaropa, Region V, Region IX, Caraga and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Cebu City, one of the epicenters of the pandemic, posted a 99 percent efficiency rate in contact tracing with 31 teams.

Año welcomed the designation of Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong as the govertnment’s contact tracing head because of his expertise in the field being a former chief of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

The DILG assured the public that they are working to contain the transmission of the virus by conducting intensified monitoring of patients, establishment of quarantine facilities and management of locally stranded individuals.