DEPARTMENT of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año directed on Friday, July 17, 2020, the Bureau of Fire Protection to take part in the house-to-house search for mild and asymptomatic Covid-19 patients under "Oplan Kalinga".
The BFP's main role is to help in the transfer to government isolation centers of coronavirus-positive individuals whose homes do not meet the conditions for home quarantine.
Año said the BFP's Emergency Medical Service and Special Rescue Units have the health personnel and necessary equipment for transporting Covid-19 patients.
The BFP will work closely with the Local Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (LESU) of the local government unit (LGU), whose health workers will take the lead.
"The BFP is part of the Municipal/City Covid-19 Task Forces and in this capacity they have been assisting the City/Municipal Health Office transport Covid patients since the start of the pandemic. In fact, they have so far transported 1,674 Covid patients nationwide," Año said.
The DILG chief also instructed the BFP to strengthen contact tracing efforts, noting that they have already assisted in the tracing of close contacts of some 18,871 patients.
The house-to-house search aims to find individuals who have been infected with Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), and bring them to quarantine centers if their homes do not meet the conditions for home quarantine.
A patient may undergo home quarantine only if he has his own room and bathroom, and if there are no elderly, minors, pregnant women and other immunocompromised persons in the same house.
Meanwhile, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Archie Gamboa said the investigative skills of the police are essential in contact tracing efforts, which are hampered by some provisions of the Data Privacy Act.
"Information provided by the patient during testing and subsequent information of close contacts are crucial to make the entire effort work. This is where the investigative skills of the police come in handy. But let me emphasize that this effort is largely within the public safety function of the police," he said.
"If only we can isolate all tested individuals, without violating their individual rights, until such time that test results are known, then we have already solved half the problem of finding these confirmed cases," he added. (VoxPop Philippines)