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GenSan eyes adoption of SoCot’s contact-tracing app

By Richelyn Gubalani

September 2, 2020, 2:22 pm

<p>General Santos City Mayor Ronnel Rivera <em>(File photo courtesy of the city government)</em></p>

General Santos City Mayor Ronnel Rivera (File photo courtesy of the city government)

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The city government is considering the adoption of South Cotabato province’s coronavirus disease 2019 or Covid-19 Contract Tracing System (SC-CCTS) to further speed up the tracking of persons possibly exposed to confirmed cases.

Mayor Ronnel Rivera said Wednesday they are currently studying the possibility of integrating the SC-CCTS into the city’s application-based Trace and Protect Action Team (Tapat) health monitoring system.

He said the city could use the SC-CCTS, which mainly functions as an electronic or digital logbook, to improve the contact-tracing mechanisms of Tapat.

Rivera, the chairperson of the Regional Development Council of Region 12 (Soccksargen), said the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid-19 had passed a resolution recommending the use of the SC-CCTS for contact-tracing.

Aside from SC-CCTS, he said several applications are also being offered to the local government as possible enhancement to Tapat.

“It (Tapat) has been up and running but we’re continually doing some improvements to make it more effective,” the mayor said in a virtual briefing.

Tapat, which was development by the city government’s information technology (IT) unit, was initially launched in June as a monitoring application for returning Overseas Filipino Workers, locally stranded individuals and authorized persons outside residence.

It provides target individuals with quick response or QR codes for easy tracking and monitoring of their health status.

During the city council’s regular session on Tuesday, Vice Mayor Loreto Acharon pushed for the adoption of the SC-CCTS as temporary replacement for Tapat, which they described as “ineffective” so far.

Acharon said they could use the SC-CCTS to help expand the contact-tracing for confirmed Covid-19 cases in the city.

“We should tap it while our IT personnel are still fixing Tapat,” he said.

Councilor Rosalita Nuñez said Tapat implementers should make the needed corrections and adjustments faster in the wake of the increasing Covid-19 local transmission in the area.

She specifically cited its limitation in terms of tracking the movement of residents in local establishments and other entities as part of the contact-tracing efforts.

“I feel insulted every time I meet people who are asking why we’re so slow with our contact-tracing. We should have the capability to address that being the premier city of Region 12,” she said. (PNA)

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