The Quezon City government strongly encourages residents and employees working in the city to self-report all probable or confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), saying this will be a big help in arresting the spread of new infections.

In a memorandum, Mayor Joy Belmonte said all confirmed and probable cases may be brought to the attention of the Quezon City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) as well as the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (BHERT).

“This shall further enable the CESU to respond in a timely manner to accomplish contact tracing of confirmed cases,” said Belmonte.

“Every day and every hour is important, so self-reporting helps the Philippines end the COVID-19 pandemic faster,” she added.

Through self-reporting, the ayor stressed that individuals positive of the virus or probably infected with COVID-19 can prevent family, friends and co-workers from acquiring the disease.

Belmonte said the city will provide positive and probable COVID-19 patients with free quarantine accommodations through its HOPE community quarantine facilities, where they can be taken cared of by skilled health care workers.

According to CESU head Dr. Rolly Cruz, there are many cases wherein the CESU only learned about an individual’s COVID-19 positive status long after results have been released due to a number of reasons.

“It is possible that an individual was tested in a health facility outside of QC, or that there are weaknesses in COVID-19 information systems, or perhaps hospitals and laboratory facilities are lacking in available encoders,” he said.

Cruz said self-reporting must contain significant information such as full name, birth date, exact address, contact number, work and company name, date when symptoms started, among others.

Self reporting can be done through e-mail (qcselfreport@gmail.com) CESU’s Facebook accounts: facebook.com/QCEpidemiologyDiseaseSurveillance), facebook.com/qc.esu.official, facebook.com/qc.esu.official1, facebook.com/qc.esu.official2, and facebook.com/qc.esu.official3) and its hotline numbers (landline: 8703-2759, 8703-4398; Globe: 0916-122-8628, Smart: 0908-639-8086, Sun: 0931-095-7737).

“Self-reporting can also be accomplished through the respective hotlines of your barangay,” said Cruz, adding that the report will be kept strictly confidential and will not be used for any purpose except contact tracing.