CITING the need to finish testing some 22,000 overseas Filipino workers who are already in the country before the next batch of OFWs arrives, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) lauded the Philippine Red Cross for saving the country—this time through its molecular laboratories.
Admiral Joel S. Garcia, PCG commandant, said they are very thankful that the PRC, headed by Sen. Richard J. Gordon as chairman and CEO, “anticipated” and opened up the laboratories, where test for OFWs are now conducted.
“It is the Red Cross and the Red Crescent which is now saving the country. Christians and Muslims can all be tested there. PRC’s laboratory is a game-changer. Today, we will get another 10,000 test kits from the Red Cross. With our partnership with the Red Cross, we will finish testing all the OFWs who are already here before Saturday, when inbound flights will be allowed again,” Garcia said.
The PRC already opened two testing centers that are both equipped with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines that can run up to 8,000 tests a day. The PRC’s testing capacity would expand to 20,000, with the opening of another testing center in Port Area, Manila, this week and four others in Subic, Clark, Batangas and Los Baños in the next few weeks.
“Senator Gordon is really a visionary. He is the leader that we need, especially during crisis. Senator Gordon is really a good crisis manager,” he, meanwhile, said of the PRC’s chairman.
The Coast Guard is in charge of testing both land-based and sea-based OFWs arriving in the country. Some 22,000 OFWs are already in different designated quarantine sites and at least 60,000 more are expected to arrive in the next three months.
Members of the PCG also go aboard some 12 ships currently anchored at the Manila Bay to swab a total of 10,500 crew members on board the ships. At least 10 more cruise ships, with a total crew of at least 10,000, are expected to drop anchor at Manila Bay this month.
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