COVID mass testing begins in Metro Manila today

MANILA, Philippines, April 14 ------ Mass testing for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection begins today as scheduled, a day after Manila and Quezon City kicked off their own localized testing. The long-planned mass testing is finally taking off as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country reached 4,932, with the death toll now at more than 300, according to data released by the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday. Recoveries totaled 242. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also announced that 1,429 people have completed the online biosafety course organized by the University of the Philippines-Manila. Vergeire said over 300 volunteer-medical technologists, molecular biologists, laboratory technicians and researchers would be deployed “strategically” to laboratories in coordination with the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of UP-Manila’s National Institutes of Health. “We are expanding our testing capacity… but we want to make sure that there are enough health workers in every facility,” she said. Vergeire said they are also working with the Department of Science and Technology on the use of equipment and supplies for lending to DOH. She said so far, six polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines are now being matched with some laboratories certified by the DOH to do the testing. “The laboratories are implementing extended operating hours to make sure that they can do more testing. We have 15 laboratories now, but (the number) is expected to expand as we are speeding up the evaluation of applications for certification of 28 laboratories across the country,” she added. Qualified for testing are those with severe conditions, the elderly, pregnant women and healthcare workers with symptoms. She said the DOH intends to expand the coverage of mass testing once the laboratories are “capacitated” or after they have reached 8,000 tests a day. Source: philstar.com