PRRD: Over 15,000 people trained as contact tracers
Published June 8, 2020, 10:20 PM
More than 15,000 persons have been trained to trace and monitor contacts of patients with coronavirus infection, President Duterte said in his latest report to Congress.
The President said the government continues to boost the number of contact tracers to find people who may have been exposed to the infectious disease, isolate, and treat them.
“To increase the existing pool of contact tracers in our country, the DOH (Department of Health) conducts batches of training of trainers on contract tracing and ensures that all RESUs (Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Units) have at least trained trainer on contact tracing,” he said in his 11th weekly report to Congress.
“As of 4 June 2020, a total of 15,386 contact tracing team members have been trained,” he added.
Duterte said the health department has also deployed 135 health workers, trained to collect and encode case data, to 61 hospitals in a bid to strengthen contact tracing. It also retained off-site technical point persons deployed for all RESUs and National Capital Region City Epidemiology and Surveillance Units.
As part of the detection and isolation measures, Malacañang earlier said the government intends to hire 92,000 to 120,000 people to boost the country’s contact tracing efforts. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said funds have been prepared for the hiring of thousands of contact tracers.
Health workers, COVID hospitals, quarantine facilities
The government continues to scale up health facilities and resources needed for the coronavirus response, according to the President.
He said the DOH recently hired 3,027 health workers to be deployed to hospitals, quarantine facilities, and other health facilities as of June 3.
Around 1,315 nurses from Visayas and Mindanao have also been temporarily redeployed to DOH and local government hospitals handling COVID-19 cases. Another 6,099 nurses have also been assigned in their communities for contact tracing and collection/swabbing.
“There are also 3,476 public health associates assigned in the Regional and Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Units to assist in contact tracing and surveillance,” he said.
The President said the country has 1,912 COVID-19 hospitals. There are 13,747 COVID-19 dedicated beds with an average of 34.35 percent occupancy rate across the country.
The country also has 4,233 temporary treatment and monitoring facilities for coronavirus cases as well as 47 quarantine facilities.
Filipino repatriates
From February 9 to June 5, the President said 53,4898 returning overseas Filipinos arrived in the country. Of this number, 43,143 have been released from quarantine facilities.
From May 3 to June 3, Duterte said a total of 46,375 Filipino repatriates were tested for the coronavirus by the Philippine Red Cross. At least 1,114 repatriates were confirmed to be COVID-19 positive.
Expanded testing
As of June 4, the President said a total of 398,914 tests have been conducted on 366,423 persons. The figure is higher from just 83,551 on May 26.
He said the health department has accredited 11 more testing laboratories, bringing the total to 54.
Clinical trials
According to the President, 20 hospitals are now actively recruiting participant-patients for the World Health Organization Solidarity Trials. As of June 3, he said there are 220 enrollees in the clinical trials.
He said the DOH, through the United Nations Office for Project Services, has also facilitated the delivery and receipt of the drug Avigan sufficient for at least 100 patients. The trials will include Sta. Ana Hospital, Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital, and Quirino Memorial Medical Center.
He said the Philippine General Hospital has also started to enroll patients for the virgin coconut oil clinical trials that are expected to last one year.
SOURCE: https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/06/08/prrd-over-15000-people-trained-as-contact-tracers/
