The Quezon City government has welcomed the national government’s recruitment of additional contact tracers to help bolster the ongoing campaign against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

“The hiring of more contact tracers is a welcome development in our fight to contain the dreaded virus,” said Dr. Rolly Cruz, head of the City Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit (CESU).

Those hired by the Department of the Interior and Local Government-Quezon City Field Office will augment the current crop of CESU’s contact tracers, Cruz said.

“Napakahalaga ng tracing dahil ito ang unang hakbang sa trace-isolate-treat method na ating ginagamit upang hindi na kumalat pa ang virus sa mga komunidad,” Cruz stressed.

The DILG-QC has started the hiring of 2,000 more contact tracers for Quezon City after President Duterte signed “Bayanihan to Recover as One Act” into law.

According to DILG-QC Director Emmanuel D. Borromeo, qualified candidates will receive a monthly salary of 18,784.00 (Salary Grade 9) for a maximum of four months.

“Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree, preferably allied medical course or criminology, and must be skilled in data gathering and/or assisted in research and documentation,” said Borromeo.

Borromeo said the national government is looking for applicants who have the investigative capability and possess the ability to advocate public health education messages.

Duties of contact tracers include interviewing COVID-19 cases and close contacts in order to gather data on travel history and conduct health assessments, among others, he added.

Applicants must submit a Letter of Intent and Personal Data Sheet, which can be both accessed at contacttracing.ncr.dilg.gov.ph, NBI clearance and drug test result and upload the required documents to https://contacttracing.ncr.dilg.gov.ph. The deadline of submission is on September 23, 2020

“We fully support the DILG’s initiative because it will help augment the city’s need for additional contact tracers,” said Mayor Joy Belmonte.