Garcia requires Cebuanos to download WeTrace application

CEBU, Philippines — A smartphone application designed to expedite contact tracing for persons exhibiting Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) is now available for Android users.

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, through Executive Order 5-P, requires every Cebuano to download the WeTrace app to make contact tracing and incident reporting easier and faster for persons who manifest symptoms for coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

"The WeTrace app has been developed to accurately trace and monitor, with utmost privacy and confidentiality, persons living in the Province of Cebu who have Severe Acute Respiratory Infections, Influenza-Like Illnesses or have been classified as Persons Under Monitoring or those symptomatic of the COVID-19," the EO reads.

This can be done through the Report feature located in the apps sidebar.

Upon clicking on the Report option, users would then be able to provide their full name, contact information and the details of their report.

Users will not be required to fill in other personal information such as their address as they would automatically be assigned a QR (quick response) code.

Updates of the recent COVID-19 count from the Department of Health (DOH) and other related developments are also available in the app's home page.

WeTrace was created by a Cebuano scholar of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) a little less than a month ago. Its release has been delayed due to the required approval from Google.

Currently, it is only available on the Play Store for Android users. The app is still not available for iOS users pending approval from the App Store.  FPL (FREEMAN)