The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has deployed additional 802 contact tracers to Metro Manila as the local government units (LGUs) in the metropolis struggle with the spike in coronavirus disease 2019 cases.

DILG Undersecretary and Spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said that the Philippine National Police will deploy an additional 362 uniformed personnel to the various LGU contact tracing teams in Metro Manila to supplement their existing local contract tracing effort.

The Bureau of Fire Protection, another attached agency of the DILG, will also deploy an additional 100 uniformed personnel to Metro Manila for the intensified contract tracing effort. Sixty will be deployed to Quezon City and 40 to Pasay City.

“The chiefs of police and the fire marshalls have been instructed to coordinate with their respective LGUs for their respective requirements. If the LGUs, for example, needs more, the chiefs of police can request from their district director, and if these cannot be met by the district, the NCRPO (National Capital Region Police Office) can deploy the remaining personnel from the mobile forces,” he said.

Malaya also said that DILG Officer-in-Charge Bernardo Florece has directed the various police regional offices across the country to assign at least 20 personnel each to do remote contact tracing as maybe required by the Metro Manila LGUs.

“The Police Regional Offices will be assigned to each of the LGUs and they will help in making calls and monitoring the status of Covid positives,” he said.

Malaya said that this is in addition to the 300 contact tracers to be deployed by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to various LGUs.

“So, that’s a total of 802 contact tracers from the DILG and 300 from the MMDA. The Metro Manila LGUs are also doing their hiring so we have sufficient number of CTs (contact tracers) to meet our needs,” he said.