MANILA, Philippines — The Quezon City local government asked businesses to enforce customers' usage of the city's contact tracing app before allowing them inside.
In a statement sent to reporters Thursday morning, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte appealed to businesses to strictly implement the usage of KyusiPass upon their customers' entry into their establishments.
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KyusiPass is the city government's official mobile contact tracing application operated and maintained by SafePass.
“After the contact tracers’ interview with our positive cases, we were able to trace these people who visited the exposure site an hour before and an hour after our confirmed case’s visit within his most infectious period,” Belmonte said.
How does it work?
Per a report from the city Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit, the LGU said it was able to identify 22,315 individuals who may have had exposure to 119 positive coronavirus cases through data gathered from Kyusipass between May 7 to 31.
Upon identification, the CESU sent a notification to the exposed individuals and urged them to report immediately if they are experiencing symptoms.
The city government said that most of the confirmed carriers of the pathogen visited establishments such as groceries, supermarkets, malls, and corporate offices during their infectious period.
“Kyusipass makes our data management easier. It also helps us to trace exposed individuals faster and easier. That is why establishments should have KyusiPass and we encourage our citizens to make use of this app,” Belmonte added.
Businesses required to use app
As it currently stands, all 80,000 business establishments within the city are required by a city ordinance to set up a KyusiPass QR code or provide a QR code scanner at their entrances.
Usage of the app is among the requirements for businesses to secure a Safety Seal, which signifies an establishment’s compliance with minimum health protocols.
“We hope our businesses will take this as an opportunity to prove that they carry out the necessary measures to ensure the safety of their customers,” the mayor said during the launch of the QC Safety Seal Certification at SM City North EDSA earlier this week.
“And in turn, we expect that this will increase customer confidence and positively affect everyone’s livelihood and our economy."
— Franco Luna with a report from The STAR/Janvic Mateo
Disclosure: Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte is a shareholder of Philstar Global Corp., which operates digital news outlet Philstar.com. This article was produced following editorial guidelines.