Hiring of contact tracers continue until pandemic is over

Quezon City, Philippines – In a press release on November 17, 2020, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said they will continue to hire around 4,000 contact tracers (CT) to complete the 50,000 CTs as stated under the Bayanihan 2 Law.

"Nakatuon kami sa pagkumpleto ng 50K CTs alinsunod sa batas, at maghahire kami ng natitirang 4k sa loob ng isang linggo," said DILG Secretary Eduardo M. Año.

He said CTs play a role in lessening the community transmissions and the fight against the disease. Thus, this shall go on until experts are able to find the vaccine and medicine against CoViD-19.

"Ang mababang bilang ng mga kaso na nararanasan natin ngayon ay resulta ng ating contact tracing capacity na agad na pinuputol ang community transmission sa sandaling makilala ang isang pasyente na may COVID… Malaki ang kanilang ambag sa paglaban ng pamahalaan sa COVID-19 at sa katuparan ng ating target na maging COVID-free ang ating bansa,” expressed Año.

He also appealed to LGUs to inform DILG immediately if they are in need of additional contact tracers.

“Mayroon po tayong mga sobrang CTs kaya kung may pagkukulang po sa inyong LGU, ipagbigay-alam ninyo lang po sa amin,” sabi ni Año informing that there are at least 1,410 CTs available to be deployed in case more cases of Coronavirus disease in their areas emerges. There are now an army of 46,338 CTs confirmed hired by DILG and are now deployed to different LGUs in the country.

The National Capital Region (NCR) as the center of crisis in the Philippines received the most number of CTs counting to7,362 followed by Region IIIwith 5,026; Rehiyon VII with 4,241; 3,679 for CALABARZON; 3,306 for Region VI; Rehiyon IX has 3,267; Rehiyon XI has 3,041; Rehiyon V with 2,736; CARAGA with 2,544; and 2,000 for Rehiyon X.

MIMAROPA received 1,529 new contact tracers, Rehiyon XII has 1,501; BARMM with 1,480; Rehiyon I withy 1,445; Rehiyon VIII with 1,395; Rehiyon II has 1,215; and 571 for Region CAR. “Itong karagdagang 46,338 na CTs na ito bukod pa sa 97,400 CTs na kinuha natin dati ay malaking tulong sa pag-angat ng kakayahan ng bansa sa contact tracing at nawa ay maoigilan na ang pagkalat ng virus sa bansa. Malaking bagay talaga ito,” informed Año. One contact tracer is compensated with P18,784.00 minimum salary per month under his/her contract of service status.

Meanwhile, Año directed LGUs hit by recent typhoons to deploy CT Teams in their evacuation centers to remind evacuees to conduct and implement minimum health standards, health and to distribute facemasks, alcohol among others.

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