Villages must form their Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) to help the government address the crisis brought about by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
Interior and Local Government Sec. Eduardo Año said every barangay must be adequately informed about the disease and prepared to adopt protocols in containing it.
Año said the punong barangay must appoint BHERT members composed of an executive officer, a barangay tanod, and two barangay health workers, one of them a nurse or a midwife. BHERT members should be equipped with protective gears such as surgical gowns, goggles, masks, and gloves.
He said the BHERTs would serve as the eyes and ears of the government to make sure that residents within their jurisdictions are all accounted for and are fully informed about the nCoV.
In Memorandum Circular 2020-018, Año said BHERTs should visit the home of passengers from an nCoV-infected country. They should list the names of individuals persons that the passenger has had contact with.
The BHERTs shall also require newly-arrived passengers in their localities to record daily body temperature in the morning and afternoon, for the next 14 days of home confinement and observe possible symptoms of the nCoV.
If symptoms are observed, BHERTs must immediately isolate the person.
Family members of those who showed symptoms of the nCoV must also be placed on 14-day home confinement and repeat the process of checking, including contact tracing. – DILG release
April 27, 2024
