Locsin: Use free apps in contact tracing

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. yesterday urged the Department of Health (DOH) not to spend public funds on gadgets for contact tracing but instead use phones with free applications.

“Hey, DOH, use existing gadgets like the iPhone with the applicable contact tracing app which appears to be FREE; and don’t spend public funds on new-fangled gadgets that might look like Fitbit wrist bands. Enough already with the spending,” Locsin tweeted.

Reports said contact tracers play a vital role in reducing the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by reaching out by phone to people who have tested positive for the coronavirus or are presenting associated symptoms and then track down other people who may have been exposed.

The DOH said the Philippines needs some 95,000 more contact tracers to boost its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said the country only has about 38,000 contact tracers at present, far from the 126,000 benchmark to meet the World Health Organization (WHO)’s standard of one contact tracer for every 800 people.

The WHO warned citizens that the Philippines’ slow contact tracing efforts is compromising its efforts to defeat COVID-19.

Dr. Socorro Escalante, WHO acting representative in the Philippines, said the government should double its contact tracing efforts, especially since the enhanced community quarantine would end by the end of May.