Around 82,000 contract tracers needed: Año

June 18, 2020

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Thursday said some 82, 537 contact tracers are needed by the government to form teams by local government units (LGUs) across the country who shall take charge of tracking down close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 patients.

“Given that there is still no vaccine or cure to COVID-19, the government needs to train and hire contact tracers who will break the chains of transmission of COVID-19 by identifying those who may have been exposed to the virus and monitoring them daily for 14 days,” Año said.

He said the DILG has submitted a proposal to the Interagency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-MEID) for hiring and training of contact tracers as part of the government’s expanded contact tracing efforts to effectively manage the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are waiting for the approval of the IATF-MEID so that our LGUs can start hiring and training contact tracers in their localities.  We need to be one step ahead and ready with the required number of contact tracers rather than be caught off guard when the need for contact tracers arises in case of a second wave,” he said.

Under the DILG proposal to the IATF-MEID, the qualifications for contact tracers are preferably graduates of bachelor’s degree on allied medical courses, other health-related courses, or criminology. Second priority may be given to those applicants who have completed at least two years of college education in medical or criminology-related courses.

The applicants shall preferably have one-year relevant experience and four hours relevant training.

At present, Año said there are 52,463 contact tracers nationwide who are part of 3,347 local contact tracing teams.

“Per WHO (World Health Organization), 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,” he said.

“While there is a need to hire 80,000 CTs, we just proposed to the IATF the hiring of only 50,000 since the LGU continues to increase the number of their CTs and there are also volunteers from the private sector,” he added.

Año said the DILG expects  approval of its proposal soon and it expects to start hiring the additional contact tracers by next month.

The DILG is the lead agency in contact tracing pursuant to IATF Resolution No. 25.  On April 24, 2020, the DILG issued memorandum circular 2020-077 directing LGUs to establish LGU Task Force against COVID-19.

According to Interior Undersecretary for Peace and Order Bernardo Florece Jr., a total of 87,092 out of 94,534 contacts or 92.13 percent have been traced as of June 15 by local contract tracing teams nationwide.

“It is contact tracers who advise the general contacts whether they need to immediately undergo home quarantine or be placed in isolation facilities,” Florece said.

Florece said contact tracers are tasked to monitor symptomatic and asymptomatic close contacts on a daily basis for 14 days from the last point of exposure.  Those that tested positive on COVID-19 either through rapid test or PCR tests are referred to hospital facilities for proper treatment.

COVID-19 enhanced contact tracing efforts is a joint effort of the Department of Health, DILG, Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, and Bureau of Fire Protection.

Data gathered during the contact tracing initiatives will be shared among these parties for proper COVID-19 testing and treatment with due regard to RA 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012.  Ella Dionisio/DMS