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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 802 additional contact tracers deployed in Metro Manila

802 additional contact tracers deployed in Metro Manila

Published Mar 18, 2021 03:42 pm

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Thursday, March 18, that 802 additional contact tracers (CTs) will be deployed in Metro Manila to enhance the local government’s response to the soaring number of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in the region.

In this photo taken on September 8, 2020, an elderly woman wearing a face shield boards a bus in Manila. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)

DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said that the Philippine National Police (PNP) will dispatch 362 more uniformed personnel in the various local government units (LGU) contact tracing teams in Metro Manila as back-up to their existing local contract tracing efforts.

The PNP contact tracers are deployed as follows 16 – Malabon,12 – Navotas, 17 – Valenzuela, 30 – Caloocan, 16 - NPD reserve for Camanava, 14 – Marikina, 16 - Pasig
17 – Mandaluyong, 15 - San Juan, 30 – Manila, 34 – Pasay, 25 – Makati, 15 – Paranaque, 18 - Las Pinas, 17 – Muntinlupa, 20 – Taguig, 10 – Pateros, 40 – Quezon City.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) will also deploy an additional 100 of its uniformed men in the National Capital Region (NCR) contract tracing effort with 60 CTs assigned in Quezon City and 40 CTs placed on duty in Pasay City.

Malaya said that the number of CTs is in addition to the 300 contact tracers to be deployed by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to the various LGUs.

“So, that’s a total of 802 contact tracers from the DILG and 300 from the MMDA. The Metro Manila LGUs are also doing their hiring so we have sufficient number of CTs to meet our needs,”Malaya said.

He noted that the “chiefs of police and the fire marshals have been instructed to coordinate with their respective LGUs for their respective requirements.

If the LGUs, for instance need more CTs, Malaya explained that the “chiefs of police can request from their district director and in case these requests cannot be met by the district, the NCRPO (National Capital Region Police Office ) can deploy the remaining personnel from the mobile forces.”

The DILG official also noted that DILG officer-in-charge (OIC) Bernardo Florece ordered the various police regional offices in the country to assign at least 20 personnel each to do remote contact tracing as may be required by the Metro Manila LGUs.

“The Police Regional Offices will be assigned to each of the LGUs and they will help in making calls and monitoring the status of COVID positives,” he added.

This January the DILG already deployed 2,381 contact tracers in the NCR for a six-month contract until June.

Malaya said that the DILG utilized the unreleased balance from the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act and the P500 million contact tracing budget in the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA) for the hiring of the additional contact tracers.

Of the 2,381 additional CTs, 500 CTs were deployed to Quezon City, 400 to Manila, 255-Caloocan, 35 to Las Piñas, 59 to Makati City, 90 to Malabon, 213 to Marikina, 30 to Mandaluyong, 50 to Muntinlupa, 70 to Navotas, 100 to Valenzuela, 136 to Paranaque, 91 to Pasig, 30 to San Juan, 140 to Taguig, 100 to Pasay and 52 to Pateros.

At present, Metro Manila has a total of 9,386 CTs organized into 2,130 contact tracing teams. The City of Manila has the most number of CTs at 2,675 members.

Malaya said the country’s contact tracing capacity remains to be strong, a year into the pandemic.

“The existing number of contact tracers (CTs) currently stands at 255,854 nationwide which is more than sufficient for the country’s needs. We already have 29,611 contact tracing teams which is composed of 255,854 contact tracers nationwide. Even without the DILG hiring, we already have sufficient number of contact tracers,” Malaya noted.

He explained that the DILG hiring only seeks to augment the LGU CTs to meet the Department of Health (DOH) standards of 1:800 contact tracer to population ratio.

“With our number of CTs, we have exceeded DOH standard. Per the DOH, the ideal contact tracer to population ratio is 1:800 so to fully cover 108 million Filipinos, we actually need a total of 135,000 contact tracers only,” he stressed.

At present, Malaya disclosed that there are 29,611 CT teams nationwide. Each CTT (contact tracing team) is composed of the Municipal/City Health Officer with members from the PNP, BFP, Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTS), volunteers from civil society organizations (CSOs) and the augmentation CTs from the DILG.

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