The DILG Nueva Ecija started deploying contact tracers (CTs) within the province. This is after the coordination meeting with the local government units (LGUs) attended by the Local Chief Executive (LCE), Local Task Force Team Heads, City/Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officers (C/MDRRMOs), City/Municipal Health Officers (C/MHOs) and Chiefs of Police (COP) conducted on October 19, 2020 via Zoom Meetings Application.

A total of 244 CTs who underwent a two-day training with the supervision of the DILG Regional Office III were deployed to 31 LGUs in Nueva Ecija. The distribution of CTs is divided based on the number of reported cases in the LGU and their population, considering the ideal ratio of 1:800 as recommended by the World Health Organization.

The first batch of trained CTs were directed to report to their areas of responsibility for a courtesy call to the concerned LGU functionaries last October 21, 2020.

Provincial Director Renato G. Bernardino considered the proximity of the CTs' homes to their LGU assignment - this is to make sure that they can easily report to their official stations and also lessen the travel time that may expose them to the virus.

Meanwhile, the trainings for the latter batches of CTs are still ongoing. Once done, they are set to be deployed within the province to aid the existing contact tracer teams (CTTs) of the LGUs.

As of October 23, 2020, the province of Nueva Ecija has recorded a total of 1,042 confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 272 are still active.