QC dangles cash reward for barangays with effective anti-COVID-19 programs

The Quezon City government has launched a “Race to Zero” campaign to encourage barangays to arrest the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to Saleema Refran’s report on “24 Oras” on Monday.

In this campaign, the competition is among barangays that identify the most number of suspected and probable COVID-19 cases and the lowest number of persons found infected by the novel coronavirus.

The barangays will be grouped in clusters according to the population size. The members of each cluster will be competing against each other.

The winners will get P50,000 for small barangays, P100,000 for medium barangays, and P200,000 for large barangays.

The Barangay officials are tapped to search for active cases and conduct surveillance activities through the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team and Barangay contact tracers.

They will be visiting each house within the barangay to identify the people who exhibit symptoms of the disease or had close contact with a confirmed case.

The individuals identified as probable cases will undergo swab testing, comprehensive contact tracing, and isolation or quarantine.

“Ang totoong zero case ay kapag wala ka nang nade-detect na kaso do’n sa inyong barangay,” QC Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit chief Rolly Cruz said.

“Ang strategy ay unahan natin ‘yung virus. Protektahan natin ‘yung paglaganap nito within the community,” he added.

The following barangays in QC no longer had active cases of COVID-19 as of September 5:

• Philam
• Santa Cruz
• Blue Ridge B
• Claro
• Horseshoe
• New Era

"Kilangang mapatunayan natin na natigil na natin ang community transmission ng COVID-19. Kaya 'Race to Zero' tayo," Cruz added.

The objective of the program, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said, is to encourage barangay officials work harder to curb the spread of the disease.

“Ang pinakalayunin naman po dito ay hindi naman po ‘yung pera, hindi naman po ‘yung gawad, ‘yung pagkilala. Bagkus, ang atin pong layunin ay hikayatin ang lahat ng ating pong mga barangay na magtrabaho pa nang mabuti para siguraduhin ang ating mamamayan ay ligtas mula sa COVID-19,” she said.  -- Julia Mari Orndeo/BAP, GMA News