CEBU CITY—Two contact tracing teams from Region 7 were sent to Western Visayas where the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases have been increasing.
The Police Regional Office Central Visayas (PRO 7), with the guidance of Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino, sent the two teams to Western Visayas to conduct trainings, and help the region intensify its contact tracing capabilities.
Ferro said the two teams, including a seven-man team from Regional Intelligence Division headed by Police Lt. Col. Bobby Lingbawan, and a three-man team from Cebu City Police, first conducted contact tracing training in Bacolod City.
The initial training saw 190 individuals graduate from the contact tracing course conducted on September 3 to September 6.
Those who completed the training came from PRO 6, Provincial Health Office, Bacolod City Health Office, Bureau of Fire Protection, and the 303rd Infantry Brigade.
"We all went there to voluntarily help our PRO 6 to have their contact tracing established because we believe that the contact tracing teams we established in Region 7 are a game-changer for having a manageable level of COVID -19 confirmed cases," said Ferro.
The same team is set to conduct another contact tracing training in Iloilo City.
Ferro added that the best practices and lessons learned in Cebu City were being applied in Western Visayas.
"For me this is a good Bayanihan in motion, meaning we should be helping the fellow Visayas Island unit and we have shared with them our tracing manual, a first in the country, produced here in PRO 7," he said.
Ferro said the training manual was produced out of the combined teachings of Baguio City Mayor and Philippine's Contact Tracing Czar General Benjie Magalong and the Johns Hopkins Covid-19 Contact Tracing Course.
Ferro described the Johns Hopkins Covid-19 Contact Tracing Course as a "very comprehensive and very systematic way of contact tracing”
Ferro revealed that in Central Visayas alone, 9,543 individuals, including himself, have been trained to specialize in the contact tracing efforts for COVID-19.