The local government unit opened its free processing service for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) Contact Tracing System (CCTS) identification cards to residents here Tuesday.

Lawyer Paolo Evangelista, city information officer, said the program intends to assist residents, particularly the poor, who fail to download and fill up their CCTS application online.

“This is to all (for) city residents who have no access to the Internet as they have no gadget nor smart cellular phones to comply with the CCTS program,” Evangelista told the Philippine News Agency in an interview Wednesday.

Nearly 1,000 residents have availed of the free CCTS service since Tuesday, he said, adding that the city has more than 45,000 residents as of the latest census.

“Close imposition of health protocols are observed, specifically in the wearing of face masks, face shields, physical distancing, and disinfection at the city hall grounds,” Evangelista said.

Aside from processing and encoding, the CCTS services also include free printing and lamination of the contact tracing cards.

“This is in preparation for the CCTS identification cards’ requirement that will be strictly implemented in all public and private establishments throughout the province of North Cotabato next month, based on a resolution issued by the provincial inter-agency task force (PIATF),” he said.

Under the PIATF order, all establishments in the province are required to acquire CCTS scanners to cater to their clients.

The CCTS is a digitalized system of information essential to track any person exposed to a Covid-19-infected patient to avoid the further spread of the disease. (PNA)