Mass testing yet insufficiently available

By: Britney Rose Villegas

Test and isolation as a great scheme to fight the pandemic, the need of people to identify the infected and lessen the spread of the deadly virus that leads to 558 deceased people. As the Department of Health (DOH) confirms the national total of positive COVID-19 to 8, 212, Philippines continuously set to roll out mass testing for their constituents.

Other countries such as Taiwan, Vietnam, and South Korea illustrated that mass testing is a helpful way to flatten the curve of infected cases. Hence, DOH still in the process of detecting their “gold standard” of testing kits – purposely-made for antibodies and results validated by Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).

Certainly, DOH specified the demand for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests, its limited availability can’t fit in the need for mass testing. To be compared with rapid test kits, PCR tests can detect the presence of coronavirus even among asymptomatic.

The progressive mass testing intended to test 4,400 to 9, 800 per day starting April 20, then 13,000 and 20,000 daily before the enhanced community quarantine ends. Incredibly, the positive COVID-19 cases still increases along with more than a month of imposed ECQ and expanded testing capability. The government, specifically the DOH, should improve the operation of different hospitals and open more laboratories handling the tests. Philippines is the leading country with confirmed COVID-19 cases in ASEAN. That’s why it has to catch up, big time.