Contact tracing is an important public health tool being used by various nations across the world

to combat the Covid-19 pandemic (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021). The
World Health Organization (2020) defines it as the process of quickly identifying, investigating,
and analyzing persons who have been exposed to a Covid-19 infected person, also known as
contacts. Contact tracing aims to: (1) disrupt ongoing transmission and minimize illness spread;
(2) warn contacts to the likelihood of infection and provide preventative counseling or
prophylactic care; and (3) provide diagnostic, counseling, and treatment to sick persons. (4)
learn about the epidemiology of a disease in a given group; and (5) help avoid reinfection of the
originally infected patient if the infection is curable (DOH 2020a; DOH in LGA 2020).

Since the 1920s, contact tracing has been a crucial tactic in the fight against infectious illnesses.
It has been used to combat Ebola, SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), tuberculosis
(TB), HIV, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and
measles epidemics (De la Garza, 2020). It has become public health's most potent tool for
tracking transmission and determining how best to safeguard the population whenever a new
infectious disease appears. Contact tracing is broken down into three fundamental processes,
according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (2020): (1) contact
identification, (2) contact listing, and (3) contact follow-up. The case is interrogated as soon as a
confirmed or suspected case is detected to obtain information on clinical history and possible
contacts. All social, familial, work, and health care employees who have had contact with a
confirmed case from 2 days before symptom start are identified, as are settings where the
patients have visited or social interactions where contacts are likely to have been exposed.

The contacts are then categorised as either high-risk exposure ('close contact') or low-risk
exposure, as well as if they belong to one of the COVID-19 risk categories or work with
vulnerable populations. Once this has been verified, the contacts are contacted and informed
about appropriate infection control measures, symptom monitoring, and other preventive
measures such as quarantine. Public health authorities will actively monitor high-risk exposure
contacts, but low-risk exposure contacts can self-monitor for symptoms while adhering to
physical distancing measures and avoiding travel.

For high-risk exposure contacts, quarantine should be considered. If disease symptoms appear,
contacts should promptly self-isolate and seek medical care, preferably by phone first, always
following national/local authorities' guidelines. Contact tracing may be time consuming. Each
country's contact tracing intensity will have to be tailored to the local epidemiological
circumstances and available resources. In the Philippines, contact tracing is led by two
agencies: (1) the Department of Health (DOH), as the lead implementing agency of the COVID-
19 Surveillance System; and (2) the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), as
the lead agency ensuring that all local government units (LGUs) fully assist and cooperate with
the DOH in the conduct of COVID-19 response efforts, which includes contact tracing and
expanded telecommunications (NTF-CT 2020, 17-18).

The Department of Health released the following contact tracing policy and instructions for COVID-19:
(1) DMN 2020-0068, issued on February 5, 2020, reiterating the interim guidelines on contact tracing for
confirmed COVID-19 cases; (2) DMN 2020-0189, issued on April 17, 2020, updating the guidelines on
contact tracing of COVID-19 close contacts (as defined by the WHO); and (3) DMN 2020-0227, issued on
May 8, 2020, to intensify case investigation, contact tracing, reporting, and deployment of COVID-19
special teams for an In contrast, the DILG issued Memorandum Circular No. 2020-073, which mandated
the formation of a local task group.