BACOLOD City – Leaders of Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) here have started their contract tracing training with the City Health Office (CHO).
City administrator Em Ang said in a statement on Tuesday the BHERT leaders attending the echo-seminars of the Contact Tracing Operations Center led by Dr. Luz Ma-apni are from villages affected the most by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
These barangays are 4, 19, 31, 32, 33, 41, Alijis, Bata, Banago, Estefania, Mansilingan, Montevista, Singcang-Airport, Sum-ag, Taculing, Tangub, Villamonte, and Vista Alegre.
“Given the recent sudden spike in COVID-19 cases, we need a large number of trained contact tracers to quickly locate patients, assist in isolating them and identify people with whom the patients have been in close contact,” Ang said.
Contact tracing teams should also ensure that identified patients and contacts do not interact with others to stop the virus from spreading further in the community, she added.
The lecturers of the echo-seminars at the Bacolod Respiratory Outpatient Center inside the BAYS Center are health, police and barangay officials and personnel who attended the seminar in Iloilo City on July 29 led by Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, chief of the National Task Force for Contact Tracing.
In this city, which has a total of 61 barangays, two village chiefs and a councilman have tested positive for COVID-19.
Their respective barangay halls have been locked down and decontaminated.
The city government also imposed localized lockdowns in more than 500 households in various villages. (With a report from PNA/PN)
