CITING the need to track down every single person in close contact with a contaminated patient, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) approved the recommendation of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to use automatic contact tracing through Smart Messaging System to further strengthen and improve the use of the StaySafe.PH System.
The StaySafe.PH System is the government’s official social distancing, COVID-19 health-condition reporting, and contact tracing system.
The government has slated an initial beta-testing, together with the proposed Smart Messaging System, in the cities of Pasig, Antipolo, Mandaluyong and Valenzuela due on May 1, 2021, with access to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS). This is to ensure interoperability and integration of all contact tracing applications in the StaySafe.PH System,
The IATF also adopted the recommendation on the immediate completion of the transfer of ownership to the Department of Health (DOH) of the CDRS and its immediate integration with the StaySafe.PH System and other local contact tracing systems and applications.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has been directed to be the over-all lead in the implementation.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), on the other hand, is tasked to lead in the national interoperability, while the DOH is directed to ensure integration of the StaySafe.PH System with the CDRS.
The DILG is further directed to immediately coordinate and convene with DICT and DOH to formulate the necessary action plan with specific timelines and targets.
Also ratified during the IATF meeting is the proposal, which was endorsed by the Department of Tourism, to construct free and temporary public walk-in and drive-thru vaccination centers in the vacant portion of the lots located in the Nayong Pilipino property in Paranaque City.