ZAMBOANGA MAYOR Beng Climaco proposed to the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (RIATF) to make uniform all the requirements for the entry of locally stranded individuals (LSI), returning overseas Filipinos (ROF) and those authorized persons outside residences (APOR).
In a recent meeting, Climaco, who chairs the local task force on Covid-19, said there should be harmonization of policies after observing that different local governments and agencies have varied health and travel requirements for LSI, ROF and APOR that further complicate and burden their poor situation.
She asked the RIATF to elevate her proposal to the National Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases so that all requirements for LSI, ROF and APOR will be one and the same anywhere in the country.
“We hear the pleas of our LSI, ROF and APOR and we need to help them,” Climaco said.
During the meeting presided by the Office of Civil Defense, Climaco also proposed the grant of subsidy for the board and lodging expenses of Covid-19 contact tracers who will be assigned to different areas in Zamboanga Peninsula to enable them to effectively undertake their tasks of tracking and managing close contacts of confirmed coronavirus patients.
The government, she said, must provide the necessary resources to support the expenses of the contact tracers who risk their own health and even life to protect the others.
The local government has deployed hundreds of contact tracers who were newly hired by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in an effort to locate persons exposed to the deadly coronavirus disease.
Climaco said a total of 656 contact tracers will assist existing contact tracers of the City Health Office and help in tracking and managing the close contacts of confirmed coronavirus disease patients here.
She renewed calls for residents to follow the health protocols to prevent the spread of the deadly respiratory virus. “Because we care for you, we constantly remind you of your responsibilities to strictly follow minimum health standards, quarantine guidelines and other existing laws. Tiene cuidao tu cuerpo, tu familia, tu comunidad y tu ciudad,” she said.
Under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or the Bayanihan II Law, the DILG was authorized to hire at least 50,000 contact tracers to ramp up the government’s contact tracing program.
DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said the contact tracers are the game-changer in the Covid-response since this will cut the transmission of the disease and ultimately defeat Covid-19. “These contact tracers will greatly amplify our Covid-19 efforts and further decrease our daily cases,” he said.
Under the DILG guidelines, contact tracers will earn a minimum of P18,784 per month in a contract of service status. Among their responsibilities are to conduct interviews, profiling, and perform an initial public health risk assessment of Covid-19 cases and their identified close contacts; refer the close contacts to isolation facilities; conduct enhanced contact tracing in collaboration with other agencies and private sectors; conduct daily monitoring of close and general contacts for at least 14 days, and perform such other tasks in relation to the Covid response. (Zamboanga Post)
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