4 more PH laboratories to start coronavirus testing on March 19 – WHO

Mara Cepeda

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

4 more PH laboratories to start coronavirus testing on March 19 – WHO

Rappler.com

(UPDATED) The World Health Organization also gives additional test kits to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, increasing the laboratory's daily testing capacity from 300 to 450 tests

COVID-19 TEST KIT. A sample of the UP-developed novel coronavirus detection kit as presented to media during a press briefing held at the Philippine Gerome Center on March 12, 2020. Photo by Darren Langit/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The World Health Organization (WHO) said 4 subnational laboratories in the Philippines can begin testing novel coronavirus samples starting Thursday, March 19.

The WHO made the announcement in its sixth situation report on the status of the virus outbreak in the Philippines on Wednesday, March 18. 

According to the WHO, the following subnational laboratories “will be operational” to screen samples for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, by Thursday:

  • Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center in Baguio City
  • San Lazaro Hospital in Manila City
  • Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City
  • Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City

The WHO said the laboratory of the University of the Philippines National Institutes of Health, whose scientists developed their own coronavirus detection kits, will “soon” be ready for COVID-19 testing as well. (READ: U.P. coronavirus test kits still need gov’t validation, no mass use yet)

This means the Philippines will have 5 WHO-accredited centers by Thursday. Since the outbreak began, only the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), the Department of Health’s (DOH) research arm based in Muntinlupa, has been testing samples of COVID-19.

The WHO also provided RITM additional supplies of test kits, increasing the laboratory’s daily testing capacity from 300 to 450 tests. 

This is a welcome development for the Philippines, whose government has been drawing flak for not testing enough of its population for the fast-spreading coronavirus.

But Health Secretary Francisco Duque III clarified on Thursday, March 19, that these 4 subnational laboratories only have around 100 test kits available for now. The health department is working to give them additional test kits as soon as possible.

“What my concentration is now is to ensure that those 4 subnational labs are really operating according to set standards of safety and accuracy of testing. Puwede na silang tumanggap (They can receive samples already), but that depends because of the limited test kits sent to them. One hundred pa lang ang mayroon sila sa ngayon (They only have 100 test kits each right now),” Duque said in a phone interview with Rappler.

The lack of test kits available in the country has forced the DOH officials to prioritize persons under investigation for testing. They are the individuals who are manifesting severe symptoms of COVID-19 and have either traveled to a country with local transmission and have risk of importation of the virus, or have known exposure to a positive case. (READ: When you need to get tested for coronavirus – or not)

Duque said on Monday, March 16, that thousands of additional test kits are also coming in from South Korea and China. But the Philippines may still not have enough trained technicians to run tests and analyze samples.  

As of 12 pm on Wednesday, the Philippines has tallied a total of 202 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 17 of which are fatal. Still, 7 patients have already recovered from the disease. 

Experts from the DOH and WHO have estimated the novel coronavirus cases in the country could peak to as much as 75,000 in the next 3 months or by June if not properly contained.

President Rodrigo Duterte declared a state of public health emergency on March 9, a Luzon-wide lockdown from March 17 to April 12, and a state of calamity in the Philippines on March 16. 

Several provinces, cities, and municipalities in the Visayas and Mindanao have also declared localized lockdowns and placed their localities under a state of calamity.

Read a full copy of the WHO 6th COVID-19 situation report on the Philippines below:

” data-auto-height=”false” data-aspect-ratio=”0.7055599060297573″ scrolling=”no” id=”doc_64342″ width=”100%” height=”600″ frameborder=“0”>

 Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!
Clothing, Apparel, Person

author

Mara Cepeda

Mara Cepeda specializes in stories about politics and local governance. She covers the Office of the Vice President, the Senate, and the Philippine opposition. She is a 2021 fellow of the Asia Journalism Fellowship and the Reham al-Farra Memorial Journalism Fellowship of the UN. Got tips? Email her at mara.cepeda@rappler.com or tweet @maracepeda.