Philippines seeks to expand coronavirus testing to 10,000 daily

MANILA – The Philippines aims to carry out 10,000 tests a day against the new coronavirus to slow the spread of the disease, a government official said Thursday.

In an ANC interview, Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the government’s national policy against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), said that several cities in Metro Manila have begun testing suspicious cases in their communities.

“Testing, screening and also treatment, this is our strategy. We really have to detect, isolate and treat potential cases of COVID-19,” he said.

Nationwide, there are 15 laboratories that can perform COVID-19 tests, while health authorities are accelerating the accreditation of 15 other facilities, he added.

As of Tuesday, the country has registered 5,223 coronavirus infections. The count includes 335 deaths and 295 people who recovered from the virus.

The Department of Health (DOH) previously said the expanded tests would still be “risk-based,” meaning that people in the vulnerable population would be prioritized.

At the top of the list for testing are critically ill and severely symptomatic patients. Elderly patients with mild symptoms or patients with pre-existing medical conditions are also prioritized.

During the interview, Galvez revealed that enforcing the improved community quarantine in Metro Manila has become a challenge for the police and the military.

“They are really having the challenge of arresting more than 100,000 violators. We call on the public so that we have to obey and see the fruits of our work,” he said.

He added: “Those people who are violating the enhanced community quarantine, these areas have a lot of continued spread of the disease.”

Gálvez urged local government units (UGL) to strictly enforce precautionary measures.

“We are ordering them to aggressively comply with the President’s directive. This enhanced community quarantine is for all of us. So we can save more lives and we can complete this task in the shortest time possible,” he said.