[ti:In Singapore, ‘Contact Trackers’ Seek to Follow Path of Infections] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]In Singapore, a group of workers has been given an important job in the fight against the new coronavirus. [00:10.16]The workers are called "contact trackers." [00:16.12]Their job is to interview infected individuals as soon as possible [00:22.20]after the patients are confirmed to have COVID-19, the disease the virus causes. [00:31.60]The contact trackers speak with hospitalized patients over telephone. [00:38.72]They are separated from infected individuals by two glass walls. [00:45.80]The information they collect is then used to find out as much as possible [00:52.24]about the patients' movements and contacts during the two weeks before they were hospitalized. [01:01.40]Conceicao Edwin Philip is one of the contact trackers. [01:07.16]For several weeks, he has kept himself ready to get to the hospital as quickly as possible to interview new patients. [01:19.44]"We have to drop everything, scramble and figure out where these patients have been," [01:26.20]said Philip, an employee of Singapore General Hospital. [01:32.88]Philip is not a medical professional. [01:36.32]But his work has become very important in the city-state's efforts to fight the virus. [01:45.24]Singapore has won international praise for taking strong and immediate measures to battle COVID-19. [01:54.52]Early on, Singapore had one of the highest infection rates outside of China. [02:00.72]But other nations have since reported much higher spreads. [02:06.92]Philip said one way he tries to get patients to remember details about their movements [02:13.68]is to ask them about all their meals on each day. [02:19.32]"Because once they can remember who they sat down with for a meal, [02:24.44]that would give a rough estimate of the number of people in their surroundings," Philip said. [02:32.20]"And they can usually remember what they did." [02:37.80]Philip has experience tracking patient contacts for other diseases. [02:44.36]He says it can be very difficult to get people to remember small details. [02:50.64]But he added that it helps to stay cheerful. [02:56.68]"You have to be very, very patient with them," he added. [03:02.04]"Don't get angry, because, just like you and me, most of us can't remember a lot of things. [03:11.28]Philip usually has about two hours to interview patients about their whereabouts, travel history and contacts. [03:22.12]He also examines their work calendars, computer records and purchase history. [03:30.00]Philip also uses hospital records to identify which health workers have come into contact with COVID-19 patients. [03:41.68]Philip gives his results to a health ministry team that then speaks with identified individuals. [03:50.32]Sometimes, police also use video from security cameras to find those at risk. [03:58.36]Those people are then put into quarantine and closely watched for signs of the virus. [04:06.76]I'm Bryan Lynn. [04:08.56]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM