135 Negros cops tapped as contact tracers in COVID fight

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

 

BACOLOD City – A total of 135 personnel of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) here support the contact tracing efforts of the provincial government in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Police Lieutenant Wilma Silva, Nocppo’s assistant public information officer, said the personnel came from various police stations in the province.

Silva said the team is composed of an investigator, an intelligence officer, an operations officer, and a police community relations officer.

These personnel will augment the composite team deployed for contact tracing, along with the Department of Health (DOH) and other concerned government agencies, she added.

The police contact tracers were deployed for about two weeks now, she said.

Meanwhile, the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade (IBde) is also in full support on the contact tracing efforts of the local government.

Colonel Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd IBde commander, joined the 3rd metro seminar on contact tracing in Victorias City last week.

Pasaporte said the province needs to strengthen its contact tracing efforts because it is one important component in the COVID-19 efforts.

The Armed Forces have already deployed medical personnel to augment the local medical healthcare of Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, Pasaporte said.

“It is very important that the people of Negros and the local government units are cooperating to confront this health crisis,” he added.