BY JEFFREY DAMICOG
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has been tapped in contact tracing of persons who may have been exposed to coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said on Wednesday.
“The PNP leadership has signified their conforme to this and they are in the process of training the police officers that will act as contact tracers,” the spokesman said during an interview over CNN Philippines.
Amid the need to raise the number of contact tracers from 77,000 to 150,000, Roque said the government is adopting the strategy of contact tracing czar and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong.
“He’s using actually the PNP for contact tracing which is something we would also implement here,” Roque said as she cited the steps made by Magaling in Baguio City.
In adopting Magalong’s scheme, Roque said the police will be used for contact tracing, while “the local government units can hire and pay for additional contact tracers up to 150,000 of them.”
“The police, because they are already employed by the government, can be tapped to do the same chore without additional remuneration,” he pointed out.
President Duterte placed Metro Manila, Laguna, Bulacan, Cavite, and Rizal under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) again in response to the call of the medical community for a “time out” as they have grown tired and weary over the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
Roque said the Philippines is not the only country which has experienced spikes in COVID-19 cases. (Jeffrey Damicog)
