One positive COVID-19 case came into contact with 37 persons: Año

July 22, 2020

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Wednesday said out of every one positive COVID-19 person they were able to trace, over 37 persons came into contact with that person.

During a pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) briefing, Año said people must  step forward if they have close contact or have been exposed to a COVID-19 patient.

“On the increasing number of new cases, people need to step forward if they have close contact or have been exposed. You can actually reach LESU (Local Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit) or CESU (City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit), our LGU (local government unit) health official,” he said.

“In every one positive that we have traced, go back to 14 days, it generated 37 close contacts and it is possible that they are infected… This is what you call lots of work but we will do it and we will continue to strengthen our contact tracing efforts and with additional contact tracing members we can defeat this COVID-19,” he added.

Earlier, Año said a total of 69,098 contact tracers were deployed nationwide to help the government.

Año directed all 42,045 barangays nationwide to create their own contact tracing teams to boost contact tracing capabilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Ella Dionisio/DMS