Contact tracers reduced from 50,000 to 15,000 due to budget woes — DILG exec

An official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Thursday said the number of contact tracers was reduced from 50,000 to 15,000 due to budget matters.

At the Laging Handa public briefing, DILG Assistant Secretary Odilon Pasaraba said the department already requested more funds to hire more contact tracers.

“We used to have 50,000 at dahil sa budget nag-reduce tayo ng 15,000 contract tracers na lamang (and because of the budget we reduced to 15,000 contract tracers only),” he said.

According to Pasaraba, the Department of Budget and Management will provide the additional budget for contact tracing.

Contact tracing czar Baguio City Mayor Bejamin Magalong earlier said the ideal ratio for urban settings is 1:30 to 37, while for rural areas is 1:25 to 30.

Pasaraba said they are eyeing to reach a 1:10 contact tracing ratio which is required by the Department of Health.

On Wednesday, the Department of Health reported that the country has 3,806 new infections, bringing the total to 1,485,457. At least 44,408 are still active cases.

The death toll due to the disease is at 26,232, according to the DOH. — RSJ, GMA News