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MANILA, Philippines – The government assured on Monday that the personal information of patients with 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will not be publicly disclosed, even when it imposes a mandatory declaration of personal data to increase its contact search efforts.
The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging and Infectious Diseases previously announced the mandatory disclosure of personal information related to patients with COVID-19 in an attempt to intensify contact localization efforts.
IATF spokesman and cabinet secretary Karlo Nograles said patients will only disclose their personal information to the Department of Health (DOH), which will serve as a repository for their personal data.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles attends the DOH briefing on COVID-19. Screenshot of the Health Department Facebook page.
“We are not telling patients to disclose to the public. We are telling patients to disclose to DOH all accurate and honest information,” Nograles said at a virtual news conference.
The Palace official, however, noted that DOH may share patient information with law enforcement agencies in carrying out follow-up measures for the contract subject to the provisions of the Data Privacy Act.
The DOH repository and the security information of the deposits. But DOH in the context of contact tracing can ask LGUs and law enforcement to assist in contact tracing. And to do that, DOH must necessarily share the information with these law enforcement officers, but taking into account the provisions of the Data Privacy Act, ”explained Nograles.
At the same press conference, Nograles also said that sanctions await patients who will not disclose personal data or those who will provide false information, citing Republic Law 11332 or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Events and Health Law of Public Health Issues. “
Nograles, however, did not rate how much information or what kind of personal details patients would be required to disclose to DOH.
On Sunday, the Philippines confirmed 4,648 cases of the respiratory disease, with 297 deaths and 197 patients recovering.
GSG
For more news on the new coronavirus, click here.
What you need to know about the coronavirus.
For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
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