(Eagle News)–Over 10,000 additional contact tracers will be hired for Metro Manila, Interior Spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said on Thursday, Aug. 27.
In a radio interview, Malaya said this was given a 13-million population for the National Capital Region, so far the epicenter of COVID-19 in the country.
He said the World Health Organization’s ratio for contact tracer to population is 1:800.
So far, he said Metro Manila has 4,000 contact tracers.
“Ang hinahanap namin, first priority, graduate ng allied medical courses at criminology,” he said.
He said college graduates of those courses are the second priority, while the third priority would be graduate-level graduates of other courses.
He said those qualified will have to undergo training at the Local Government Academy or Philippine Public Safety College.
Several local software companies have developed apps for contact tracing, a move the Department of Health has welcomed.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has so far endorsed the StaySafe.ph app for contact tracing.
