By Fernan Angeles

THE government has already recruited 238,000 contact tracers but Interior Secretary Eduardo Año hinted on hiring 50,000 more in the coming days to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Año cited the need for more contact tracers since most of the 238,000 existing contact tracers are deployed only in areas they prefer.

“Sa ngayon, meron tayong 238,000 contact tracers. Karamihan dito mga volunteers, augmentation mula sa Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, at Armed Forces of the Philippines,” he said.

“Normally, they were deployed kung saan sila nagbo-volunteer,” he added.

The 50,000 contact tracers to be hired can be deployed in areas where workforce for contacting is really needed, according to Año.

“Itong mga contact tracers natin na ito, madi-deploy natin ‘to all around the region kung saan sila kailangan,” he said.

The DILG boss said that should they be able to recruit 50,000 more contact tracers, 20,000 will be deployed in Luzon; 15,000 in the Visayas and the remaining 15,000 in Mindanao.

The contact tracers will be hired per province but they will be deployed across a specific region, Año said.

“Normally naman ‘yung 80 percent ng cases sa isang lugar ay nasa 20 percent ng mga baranagay nila o siyudad. So doon natin itatalaga itong mga additional para magkaroon ng reinforcement,” he said.

393620cookie-checkGov’t hires 238,000 contact tracers, still needs 50,000yes