As part of the government’s continued efforts to increase the country’s capability to detect and appropriately manage confirmed Covid-19 cases and stem the spread of the virus, the Department of Health (DOH) has announced that there are now a total of 100 licensed testing laboratories throughout the country.
As of Thursday, August 6, 2020, a total of 100 laboratories are now eligible to conduct RT-PCR testing for Covid-19 diagnosis.
The 100th laboratory facility is at Chong Hua Hospital. The addition of the Cebu-based hospital to the roster of licensed testing laboratories was seen as a milestone in terms of the country’s testing capacity.
Initially needing to send swab samples to the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory in Melbourne, Australia for Covid-19 confirmation in February, the Philippines now boasts of the highest testing capacity among countries in the Southeast Asia region, surpassing even richer neighboring countries such as Japan and Singapore.
As of August 5, the country has conducted a total of 1,667,831 tests on 1,557,105 unique individuals and has recorded an average daily testing capacity of 27,800 within the last seven days.
The Philippines’s testing strategy is being enhanced in congruence with the other facets of the government’s national five-point response strategy to manage the Covid-19 situation in the country, namely, prevention, isolation, contact tracing and treatment.
With the revitalized response strategy that is now primarily being implemented through the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE)—a more localized response initiative aimed at mitigating transmission at the community level—the continuously-improving testing capability will contribute greatly in ensuring the success of the department’s enhanced disease surveillance strategies.
At a media forum on Friday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that they will specifically go in areas with the most number of infections and clustering occurred recently as stated under CODE.
There are 10 cities in Metro Manila included in the CODE strategy for the next two weeks. These are: Pinagbuhatan, Pasig; Addition Hills, Mandaluyong; Sucat, Muntinlupa; Potrero, Malabon; Pembo, Makati; San Antonio, Parañaque; Barangay 12, Caloocan; Batasan Hills, Quezon City; CAA – BF International, Las Piñas and Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.
“This will also be done across the country,” Vergeire said.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said that the Philippines’s national testing capacity is also expected to be further boosted with 87 laboratories undergoing the DOH’s licensing process and in the pipeline to be licensed within the next few months.
“We are overjoyed with this significant milestone in our country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Taos-puso po ang aming pasasalamat sa mga nagbigay daan upang makamit ang tagumpay na ito—ang Health Facilities and Services Regulatory Bureau, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine [RITM], World Health Organization at ang pribadong sektor,” Duque said.
“Kami rin po ay nagbibigay pugay sa ating mga Covid-19 labs na walang sawang nagbibigay serbisyo at tumutulong sa pag-sugpo ng Covid-19. Walang hanggang pasasalamat po,” the health chief stated.