The government has hired more than 48,000 contact tracers since the Bayanihan 2 was signed into law, the Department of the Interior and Local Government has announced.
In a Laging Handa briefing, Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said 96.15 percent or 48,074 contact tracers have been hired out of the target 50,000 contact tracers.
“They have been hired, trained and deployed. Ibig pong sabihin nandoon na po sila sa mga LGUs at sila po ngayon ay nagku-contact trace na,” he said.
Malaya said the government believed the lowering of Covid-19 cases being reported daily could be attributed to more stringent contact tracing efforts within communities.
It has been 13 days since the Department of Health recorded more than 2,000 Covid-19 cases in a single day.
“Dahil dati nga po, iyong mga contact tracers natin were also doing other things. Ngayon mayroon po tayong 48,000 contact tracers na ang trabaho lamang is to cut the transmission of Covid-19 in the community,” he added.
The country aims to hire at least 50,000 contact tracers through its recruitment program to fulfill the “Magalong formula” of tracing 37 close contacts of one Covid patient up to the 3rd degree.
The country has tallied 418,818 Covid-19 infections as of Nov. 22. John Ezekiel J. Hirro