The Mandaue City Public Information Office said Tuesday, August 4, that its contact tracing operations center, which would be backed by the city’s police force, was now fully operational .

The official PIO Facebook page said that the Mandaue City Contact Tracing Operations Center was established to boost the city’s aggressive strategy to counter the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

Mandaue City public information officer and executive secretary John Eddu Ibañez said in Cebuano: “We have police personnel who will collect data and we also have other personnel who will join our contact tracing teams to barangays which will be the core of our tactics.”

The new facility was built at the former the computer laboratory of the Mandaue City Public Library.

The city police force will aid and train contact tracing teams, including the hired civilians whose jobs are to document and input information into the digital database.

Philippine National Police-Mandaue assured the public that the personnel handling the contact-tracing will be well-trained to prevent causing fear among civilians, especially those suspected to be infected with the coronavirus.

Captain Jovito Labra, the Mandaue police officer who is also the Contact Tracers Team In-Charge, said that it was important to know who to isolate and to identify suspected infected individuals so as to prevent the spread of the virus.

The Mandaue City Library – Computer Laboratory was made into the makeshift contact tracing operations center of the city. It will be open 24/7 to collect information on the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

Last July 24, the city government strengthened its efforts to curb the surge of coronavirus infections in the city by hiring contact tracers.

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes said that he hoped the contact tracing team could stop the spread of the virus and lessen the city’s COVID-19 cases.

Those interested to apply as contact tracers can submit their applications to the city HRMO office or send their application via email at hrmo@mandauecity.gov.ph

Meanwhile, Mandaue City has recorded 1,068 patient recoveries out of the city’s total coronavirus infections of 1,901 as of Tuesday. It currently has 751 active COVID cases and has had 82 deaths. – Rappler.com