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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Biazon favors multiple contact-tracing apps in COVID fight

Biazon favors multiple contact-tracing apps in COVID fight

Published Sep 2, 2020 05:24 pm

Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon has suggested the use multiple contact tracing apps in the battle against COVID-19.

Muntinlupa lone District Rep. Rozzano Rufino "Ruffy" Biazon
(Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)

During a recent hearing of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development, Biazon disagreed with the suggestion of some resource persons that the best recourse is to have just one contract tracing app or system in place.

"I would to beg to disagree na dapat isa lang (that there should be only one). All of these systems are electronic and digital. So it's only a matter of integrating those different apps into a single database," he said.

What's needed, according to Biazon, is a kind of umbrella system covering all active contact tracing apps. "It's just a matter of consolidating (the data collected by) the apps."

"Kasi ang problema natin doon sa isa lang (The problem with a single system approach is), what if that system fails?" he said. He cited StaySafe, which is the sole app endorsed by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases in the Philippines (IATF).

Biazon said that StaySafe despite being the sole app in the country's campaign against COVID, has hardly any bearing on the government's contract-tracing efforts.

"Where is it now? What has it become? Hindi natin nararamdaman na it's in effect. 'Yung reliable contact tracing system natin is not yet there (We don't feel that it's in effect. A reliable contact tracing system is not yet there for us)."

Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Director Gian Carlo Ignacio bared during the panel hearing that the agency was "supporting" at least six contact tracing apps or systems. These are KiraCovid, Telemed, StaySafe, CovidKaya, TanodCovid, and FASSSTER.

Ignacio said KiraCovid and Telemed were developed by the Department of Health (DoH), StaySafe by Multysis, CovidKaya by Dure, and TanodCovid and FASSSTER by the Department of Science and Technology.

"I think 'yung nakikita nating problem ngayon, hindi pa natin natutuhog mga iba't ibang sistema natin (I think the problem that we see right now is, we have yet to consolidate our various systems)," Biazon commented.

Contact tracing czar and Baguio City Mayor, Benjie Magalong and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Ricojudge Echiverri prodded DICT to come up with just one particular data collection tool for contact tracing during the hearing.

Magalong said the current multi-app scheme makes double or triple-encoding of contacts a constant problem while Echiverri said local government units have expressed confusion over the handful of active apps.

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