On Sunday, April 12, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases has decided to make it mandatory to publicize the identities of COVID-19 cases to strengthen the country's contact tracing efforts.

"The IATF adopts the policy of mandatory public disclosure of personal information relating to positive COVID-19 cases to enhance the contact tracing efforts of the government," Nograles said in a virtual press conference.

He said that this was finalized under IATF Resolution No. 22, which the body signed on Wednesday, April 8, the start of the Holy Week observation.

This is a 180 degree turn from the IATF's policy two weeks ago, when the government had directed all health facilities to first get the consent of COVID-19 patients before revealing their identities to the public.

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