THE Bacolod City Emergency Operations-Task Force (EOC-TF) has asked the assistance of the Philippine Army to augment the city's contact tracing team, as cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) continue to increase.
Em Ang, executive director of EOC-TF, said Wednesday, January 26, that they were informed that the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will renew the contract of services of the city's contract tracers probably by March.
"For now, we don't have enough contract tracers so we ask the assistance of the Philippine Army to augment our contact tracers' team because of the spike of our Covid-19 cases," she said.
As of January 26, Bacolod City has a total of 26,030 Covid-19 cases. Of the number, 23,110 patients already recovered, 2,102 active cases, and 809 had died.
Ang said of the same period, Bacolod has a total of 163 new cases with 28 new recoveries.
"It's now one of our challenges (lack of contact tracers) so we are hopeful that the DILG will soon renew the contract of services of our contract tracers," she said.
The EOC-TF earlier asked DILG Secretary Eduardo Año to renew the contract of services of the city's contact tracers.
The DILG earlier hired some 115 contact tracers whose contract of services had expired on December 31, 2021.
The contact tracers were hired to help track those who might have been infected with Covid-19 in various areas of Bacolod City.
They were tasked to conduct interviews, profiling, and performing health risk assessments of Covid-19 positive cases, including close contacts.
For the meantime, the city utilized the uniformed personnel of Bacolod City Police Office and Barangay Health and Emergency Response Teams for contact tracing in various barangays.