SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday warned that efforts to safely reopen schools would be undermined if contact tracing problems are not immediately resolved.

The lawmaker said that based on the recommendations of the United Nations Children’s Fund, local government units should have an active surveillance or contact tracing system before the resumption of face-to-face classes.

Physical classes should be held only in areas with less than five percent positivity rate and less than 10 Covid19 cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days.

Gatchalian admitted that the country’s contact tracing is the weakest link in the Covid19 response.

“Mahigit isang taon na simula noong tumama ang pandemya sa atin ngunit patuloy pa rin ang mga isyung kinakaharap natin sa contact tracing. Paano natin matitiyak ang kaligtasan ng mga guro at mga mag-aaral kung hindi sapat ang ating sistema para matukoy kung sino ang mga nanganganib na magkasakit?” he said.

The senator earlier urged the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to consider implementing a unified contact tracing system.

The government has yet to roll out StaySafe.ph, the country’s official contact tracing program, because it was rejected by the Department of Health, according to contact tracing czar Benjamin Magalong.

Adopted Resolution No. 92, which Gatchalian sponsored and the Senate adopted last March, seeks to give provincial, city, and municipal school boards the task of assessing whether to reopen, adopt selective school or localized lockdowns, and resume face-to-face classes in their localities.

The resolution recommended pilot tests of limited face-to-face classes in low-risk areas.