The Department of the Interior and Local Government reported that it has deployed 3,306 contact tracers in Negros Occidental and Panay Island, to help in the fight against Covid-19.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said, in a statement, that the battle against coronavirus disease is likely to be a long haul, until such time that medical experts find a vaccine and a cure.
But with the help of the 46,338 contact tracers, who are now assigned in various localities, Año said the task of fighting and containing the virus will be much easier and will be carried out more efficiently.
The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office recently got a boost in the fight against the pandemic, with the deployment of 52 additional contact tracers by the Police Regional Office 6 to the different police stations.
The 52 neophyte police personnel had recently completed the Basic Internal Security Operations Course in Iloilo.
This was on top of the 174 police personnel deployed as contact tracers by NOCPPO to help in the tracing efforts of local government units in Negros Occidental.
Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, or Bayanihan 2 law, the DILG was tasked to recruit 50,000 contract tracers.
“The low number of cases we are experiencing now is partly a result of our ramped-up contact tracing capacity which immediately cuts the community transmission once a Covid patient is identified,” Año said.
Año also said that as committed by the DILG and stipulated under the Bayanihan 2 law, the 50,000 contact tracers will be completed soon, as 6,664 qualified applicants nationwide are now undergoing the latter phase of the hiring process to determine who will fill up the need for 3,662 contact tracers.
Under the guidelines set by the DILG, contact tracers will earn a minimum of P18,784 per month, under a contract of service status.*GPB
