Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Wednesday the government already hired over 238,000 contact tracers but still needs 50,000 more to help the country fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Año said in an interview on Unang Hirit that the majority of the 238,000 contact tracers are volunteers who are performing duties only in areas they want.
“Sa ngayon, meron tayong 238,000 contact tracers. Karamihan dito mga volunteers, augmentation mula sa Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, at Armed Forces of the Philippines,” he said.
(So far, we have 238,000 contact tracers. Most of them are volunteers, augmentation from the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Armed Forces of the Philippines.)
“Normally, they were deployed kung saan sila nagbo-volunteer [where they volunteer],” he added.
Año said the remaining 50,000 contact tracers would be deployed in areas where contact tracing is much needed.
“Itong mga contact tracers natin na ito, madi-deploy natin ‘to all around the region kung saan sila kailangan,” he said.
Over 230k contact tracers hired, 50k more needed – Año
According to the DILG chief, 20,000 contact tracers will be deployed to Luzon; 15,000 to the Visayas; and another 15,000 to Mindanao.
Each province would hire contact tracers, but the deployment would be across a specific region, Año said.
“Normally naman’ yung 80 percent ng cases sa isang lugar ay nasa 20 percent ng mga baranagay nila o siyudad. So doon natin itatalaga itong mga additional para magkaroon ng reinforcement,” he said.
(Normally, 80 percent of cases in an area are in 20 percent of their barangays or cities. So the reinforcement would be assigned there.)
The House of Representatives recently approved the P5-billion of funds for the new workforce for the government’s contact tracing efforts to be led by DILG under Bayanihan 2.
The Philippine Safety College and Local Government Academy would lead the training for the new hires.
The DILG also sets the minimum qualification standards for contract tracers: must be a graduate of a Bachelor’s degree on allied medical courses or criminology; should have one-year relevant experience, and should undergo four hours of appropriate training.