Instead of printing another quarantine pass, the municipal government of Baliwag, Bulacan is using a digital version linked to the IAMSAFE application while the town is under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
The move aims to prevent manual registration in public places and commercial establishments, promoting a faster and more accurate identification of individuals to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
With the unique QR code provided to those who have registered in the application, the Baliwag Municipal Information Communication and Technology Office (MICTO) has tagged those authorized to leave their homes.
Residents going to such establishments as markets and grocery stores that also use the IAMSAFE QR scanner could easily be determined whether they are allowed to go out or not under the guidelines set by the Baliwag Inter-Agency Task Force.
“Each household would have a representative authorized to purchase their necessities on the days fixed by their respective barangays.”
Mayor Ferdie Estrella said that each household would have a representative authorized to purchase their necessities on the days fixed by their respective barangays.
Estrella said the list of authorized representatives would be submitted by the barangays to the Baliwag Municipal ICT Office and it would be the basis for the tagging to be carried out by the office.
“The IAMSAFE web application is made for quick contact tracing in the town of Baliwag,” he said.
With the IAMSAFE Web App, Estrella said “you can quickly generate a report for contact tracing that started 14 days before the result of (a) COVID-19 patient’s swab test.”
“By just one click, you can immediately see the people who are accompanied by a positive COVID-19 patient in one place.”
“With the system, by just one click, you can immediately see the people who are accompanied by a positive COVID-19 patient in one place, and because of the information registered in their IAMSAFE account, they can be easily alerted or contacted by the contact tracing team for appropriate medical advice,” he said.
So far, some 173,491 individuals are using the IAMSAFE QR Code, Estrella said, adding that automated registration using a QR scanner is also being used in government offices, churches of various religions, markets, supermarkets, and other commercial establishments with walk-in clients.
Meanwhile, to prevent the influx and gathering of people in various establishments, he said clustering would be strictly enforced in public and wet markets, as well as supermarkets.