By Chito Chavez
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año on Sunday said that the government plans to hire some 50,000 contact tracers in July as the country continues to be under the threat of the novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
DILG Secretary Eduardo Año (Photo from Philippine Information Agency / MANILA BULLETIN)
He noted that the applicants should be college degree holders with those with health care backgrounds having an advantage.
Año added the DILG is currently coordinating with the Department of Health on the hiring of new contact tracers.
At present, Año said that the country has around 35,000 contact tracing teams which falls short of the ideal 94,000 so the initial hiring is at 50,000.
Año noted that as much as possible the ratio of the contact tracer to the population is one is to 800 but stressed that this may not be necessary citing the need to focus only on areas with huge numbers of COVID-19 cases.
The DILG chief noted that the hired contact tracers will receive about P20,000 monthly salary and other benefits which he failed to enumerate.
But Año explained that the hired contact tracers will not be regular employees and will only be workers under contract for about one year with the possibility of having it extended if the need arises.
Earlier, authorities estimated that around 136,000 contact tracers are needed in the country.