 Hello, and welcome to COVID Facts in 5, your comprehensive look at safety's management and mitigation of the novel coronavirus. I'm Humedy Mark. Daily measures can be adapted to slow the spread of COVID-19. One of the methods used by the Ministry of Health is contact tracing. Contact tracing aids with your protection and that of your family and community. This is most effective with the application of preventative measures like the use of personal protective equipment and maintaining a social distance of six feet. Let's further explore the significance of contact tracing with Marva Edward Okulia, a contact tracer from the Ministry of Health. Contact tracing is a key strategy used by public health officials to slow the spread of or even to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. And in this case, it is what is used in St Lucia to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Ideally, the process is important, especially because in the cases as in COVID-19 where there is limited treatment available or treatment options available, it serves to contain the spread of the disease because we understand that the more persons who are exposed by the virus, the implications it has for our health systems in terms of the rate of mortality and the impact on our socioeconomic for the number of persons in our country. A close contact can be a primary or a secondary contact. A close contact is a person who would have been within six feet of a person who's tested positive for a period of about 15 minutes. A primary contact would be persons within your household who you would interact with on a daily basis whereas a secondary contact would be your house, persons who you would work with, your friends, your neighbors, who you would not have the amount of interaction with as if you were in your home setting. The information that is required from close contacts include the demographics in terms of their age, their gender, where they work, where they live. We also seek to identify if they have any symptoms of the COVID virus. We try to establish or to confirm that they have been within the environment of the person who would have tested positive as a confirmation. Additionally, you would advise those persons on what to do if they are in quarantine as to how they can prevent the transmission to other members of their family. We also on some cases have to provide psychosocial support for some of these individuals because of in their cases some of them would have experienced some level of social stigma or there is the fear that they would experience the social stigma. Thank you Marva for the insight. Data collection for contact tracing is now easier with the 758 Keraloot app. Now available in your Apple and Android app stores. The app allows you to keep a log of your location and it notifies you of possible exposure to COVID-19. Download it today. This has been COVID Facts in 5. Don't miss the next one. I'm Huma DeMark.