Quezon City now requires businesses to use contact tracing app

The Quezon City Government now requires establishments to make use of its “KyusiPass” app to boost the city’s contact tracing efforts amid the presence of the more infectious Delta variant in the country.

According to the local government, Mayor Joy Belmonte has approved an ordinance that requires establishments to prepare their QR codes for the implementation of the KyusiPass before Sunday, August 15.

Establishments that are not properly using the contact tracing app will be penalized.

“Susi para mapigil ang pagkalat ng Delta variant ang pinatinding contact tracing na maaari nating makamit sa tulong ng KyusiPass,” Belmonte said in a statement.

(The key to preventing the spread of the Delta variant is to intensify contact tracing efforts, which we can achieve through the KyusiPas.)

The Department of Health on Tuesday said that eight cases of the more transmissible Delta variant tested positive after retesting.

The ordinance was also passed following the closure of several bars that allegedly violated health and safety protocols.

“We found out that those bars have KyusiPass at their entrances for display only, but when we tried to contact-trace their customers, their databases were empty,” Belmonte said.

“With the swift passage of this ordinance, we can now do random checks of various establishments and determine if they are really using the app properly,” she added.

Establishments that fail to comply will be fined P3,000 for the first offense and a suspension of franchise or business permit until it has been rectified.

For the second offense, violators will be fined P5,000 while their franchise or business permits will be suspended with the issuance of a temporary closure order.

Meanwhile, a P5,000 fine, a revocation of their franchise or business permit, and a closure order will be issued for the third offense. — Joahna Lei Casilao/BM, GMA News