The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Thursday said it is set to roll out the StaySafe.ph digital contact tracing application nationwide in May.
“By next month, we will roll out this in the entire country. We will start with government employees and we in the DILG already tried to register to StaySafe. The Philippine National Police has started its rollout among personnel Wednesday,” DILG Officer in Charge Undersecretary Bernardo Florece said in a virtual Palace briefing.
Florece said the app is an effective tool for contact tracing nationwide to ensure consistent and unified contact tracing reporting.
Meanwhile, he said the hiring of an additional 4,754 contact tracers will help boost Metro Manila’s current pool of 10,097 contact tracers.
However, Florece said this is still short of the ideal number of contact tracers which is 17,000, following the ideal ratio of one contact tracer for every 800 population.
He said the government is accepting new applicants for contact tracers to boost the country’s contact tracing efforts.
He said the StaySafe.Ph app will make it easier for government authorities and medical experts to keep track of the cases all over the country and carry out decisive actions to stem the rapid transmission of coronavirus.
“The importance of this is for you to be notified, for instance, when you are close to somebody who tested positive for Covid-19 upon entering a restaurant,” Florece said.
“Once the QR (quick response) code is scanned and you are registered, you will be notified because StaySafe is linked to the Covid-19 repository system of the DOH and it contains information on Covid-19 cases, as well as those who have symptoms or asymptomatic,” he explained.
The DILG aims to reach at least 50 million users and connect all 1,634 local government units (LGUs) across the country.
It also assured the public that the StaySafe app will not be used for surveillance because it does not use a global positioning system. Instead, it uses Bluetooth technology through the Google Apple Exposure Notification System (GAENS).
It was designed to aid in the management of Covid-19 cases by reminding people to maintain physical distance, as well as recording and monitoring Covid-19 symptoms.
StaySafe.PH was developed by Multisys Technologies Corporation in collaboration with PLDT-Smart Group and PLDT Enterprise and the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and the National Task Force on Covid-19.
Among the LGUs now using this app are Caloocan, Muntinlupa and other local governments in Metro Manila.
It is also being used now by top companies like SM Supermalls, McDonalds, Jollibee Foods Corporation, Alliance Global which includes Megaworld Corporation, Union Bank, Yuchengco Group of Companies including RCBC Bank, Filinvest, JG Summit which handles Robinsons Malls, Metrobank, Resto.ph, and Angkas.
In April 2020, the National Task Force on Covid-19 signed a memorandum of agreement with Multisys Technologies Corporation adopting StaySafe.Ph app as the country’s official contact tracing, health condition reporting, and social distancing system.
Under the new set-up, the DILG official noted that from the previous college graduate or at least second-year college-level requirement, even high school graduates can now apply as contact tracers with the informal sector workers in Manila being targeted as beneficiaries.
“But of course, we prefer (applicants) with relevant experience, those who know how to conduct interviews and were sales personnel (in previous jobs),” he added.
The DILG official disclosed that contact tracing applicants should submit their letter of applications (letter of intent), personal data sheet (PDS) and barangay resident certificate.
Contact tracer applicants must be residents in the areas where they filed their applications.
The contact tracers will be hired through the Department of Labor and Employment’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program.