Implementing Agency:
City Government of Pasig
Year Implemented:
9 October 2020-present
Themes:
Management for Productivity, Quality, and Agility, Digitization & New Technologies, and Perspectives on Productivity, Governance, and Development
General Description
The City Government of Pasig implemented an integrated approach to the contact tracing of COVID-positive cases, utilizing QR codes and GPS-based technology, through the Pasig City Health Monitoring System and Pasig Pass.
Background and Problem
Contact tracing is a necessary public health strategy to identify and suppress the potential spread of any infectious disease (Mayo Clinic, 2020). It is, however, labor- and time-intensive, and thus it is a struggle for public officials tasked with contact tracing to keep up with the rate of infection of a highly contagious disease such as COVID-19, especially given any possible issues with the integrity of the available data and the sheer volume of information and potential points of contact that need to be addressed.
Solution and Impact
To improve its contact tracing capacity, the Pasig City Government decided to integrate Pasig City Health Monitor, which is its COVID-19 case management system, with Pasig Pass, which provides proximity tracing and exposure notifications.
The Pasig City Health Monitor works by streamlining the collection and management of data into a single database that tracks confirmed COVID-19 cases, probable and suspected cases, as well as any possible close contacts. This database processes and stores patient information, demographics, mobility patterns, and hot spots with high rates of positivity. Pasig Pass requires that all establishments collect from their patrons a unique QR code generated via registration. This simplifies the process of identifying where individuals are at any given time, and who might be in the same location within the same timeframe.
The two systems can thus work together by compiling through the Health Monitor the locations an individual has visited as tracked through the Pasig Pass, identifying in the process anyone who could have been potentially exposed.
Milestones
While there have been challenges in integrating the city’s efforts with the national contact tracing system implemented by the Department of Health, the Pasig City Health Monitor has managed to record over 9,000 cumulative confirmed cases.
In recognition of the City Government’s initiative, Plaques of Appreciation were awarded to both Mayor Vico Sotto and the City of Pasig during the COVID-19 Response Service Awards. (Manila Bulletin, 2020)
Photos
Pasig City Health Monitor System (Source: Pasig City Assistant City Health Officer Stuart Santos’ Presentation on the Pasig City Health Monitoring and Tracking System)
Pasig Pass Dashboard (left) and QR Code (right)
(Source: Pasig City Assistant City Health Officer Stuart Santos’ Presentation on the Pasig City Health Monitoring and Tracking System)
Sources
Manila Bulletin. (2020, October 23). Pasig City receives recognition for COVID-19 response.
Mayo Clinic. (2020, April 24). What is contact tracing, and why is it important in fight against
COVID-19?. https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/what-is-contact-tracing-and-why-is-
it-important-in-fight-against-covid-19/