SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Mass testing will be undertaken here by the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) by the first week of May to further detect and deter new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infections in the greater Subic Bay Freeport area.
SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said that under a partnership between the two agencies, the SBMA will put in place swabbing centers to collect specimens, while the PRC will establish a testing facility that can process up to 2,000 samples daily.
Eisma said the PRC expects to receive testing equipment for its molecular laboratory at the Freeport’s Naval Magazine area by April 29 and have the same accredited thereafter by the Department of Health.
“Under this schedule we expect to begin mass testing here in the first week of May at the earliest,” Eisma said on Monday.
Eisma and PRC Secretary General Elizabeth Zaballa on Sunday inspected the PRC Molecular Laboratory, which she said was approved by PRC Chairman and Senator Richard Gordon at the behest of the SBMA.
Zaballa said the equipment for the state-of-the-art laboratory will include an automated RNA extraction machine that can run 90 samples per hour, as well as two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines that can each process 1,000 samples a day for a daily turnout of 2,000 tests.
Zaballa emphasized that the Red Cross is only using the PCR testing method, which she said is more reliable and accurate compared to rapid diagnostic tests.
She added that the DOH’s Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), the government’s lead agency in the prevention and control of infectious diseases, would have to inspect the Subic facility prior to operation.
Earlier, Eisma said the mass testing program will be open to the public, with priority given to suspected and probable cases (previously known respectively as persons under monitoring, or PUMs, and persons under investigation, or PUIs).
“Frontline workers in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, SBMA employees, as well as Freeport residents will also be prioritized, but we will also reach out to local government units (LGUs) in the neighboring communities of Olongapo City, Zambales and Bataan so that their constituents can benefit from the program,” she added.
Eisma also pointed out that the SBMA is working out a scheme with the PRC so that local residents can use the Red Cross hotline 1158 in making appointments for testing. The PRC has made similar joint testing projects with LGUs in Metro Manila using the 1158 hotline to screen applicants for testing.
To facilitate the mass testing program, the SBMA will put up swabbing centers at the Freeport main gate area for the collection of samples for testing.
“Once the samples are collected, these will be validated and sent to the Red Cross laboratory for testing, and the results could be obtained in about two days,” Eisma said.
The SBMA pushed for the mass testing program the other week as the call for mass testing resounded widely.
Eisma said earlier that mass testing would provide “a good reading of the prevalence of the outbreak with the end-view of safely lifting the ECQ in order to get the Subic businesses running again.”
She added: “If we don’t undertake mass testing, we’d be fighting Covid-19 blindly. We have to get a better grasp of the situation so that we can act accordingly.”
The SBMA has been initiating solutions to protect the local community from the virus threat. Aside from the mass testing, it established two care and isolation facilities at the Subic Gym and the former Leciel Hotel for use in case of a surge in Covid-19 cases.