MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) still has no clear picture of the severity of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) contagion in the country, but with thousands of test kits now available health officials were confident they would be able to see the extent of the outbreak to better deal with it.
The DOH reported 77 new cases on Saturday, the largest single-day increase so far recorded, pushing the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 to 307 from just 230 the previous day. It reported 19 deaths caused by the disease and 13 patients who had recovered since January.
The DOH said it had 1,300 test kits used to detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. That stock was boosted by an additional 100,000 test kits donated by China, which was handed over on Saturday by Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian to Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.
About 20,000 more were expected to arrive from Brunei and South Korea.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said it was still too early to analyze and make sense of the daily recorded cases because the country’s testing capacity was still “unstable.”
“Right now, our system is still challenged. The cases that come in are based on our laboratory’s capacity. But we have already [expanded] our capacity, so in the next few days we would see the real flow of new cases; if it’s increasing or decreasing, if this is the normal behavior of new cases in such an epidemic,” she said.
‘Can’t say for now’
Vergeire also said that health authorities “can’t say for now” whether the stringent measures, referring to the lockdown imposed by the government to contain SARS-CoV-2 were effective.
“Once this stabilizes, and we expect that the system and the process of our laboratories to stabilize in the coming days, then we can give an analysis and tell the public if we are on the right direction or it’s still lacking,” Vergeire said.
Previously, it was only the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City which had the capacity to test patients for the novel coronavirus and it receives specimen samples from other hospitals. Test results were released within 24 to 48 hours.
The DOH on Friday finally activated four other subnational laboratories capable of testing for SARS-CoV-2—San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City and Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) in Davao City.
The RITM presently has the capacity for 1,000 tests a day. The four other subnational laboratories can each do 50 to 300 tests daily.
The Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City and Bicol Public Health Laboratory in Legazpi City are also being turned into test centers.
In addition, five private laboratories are also being considered to be accredited as extension centers—Makati Medical Center, St. Luke’s Medical Center Quezon City, St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City, The Medical City in Pasig City and Chinese General Hospital in Manila.
Rational allocation of kits
She said the DOH “would try to have a rational allocation” of the limited number of test kits.
She also said it might take two or three more weeks before the test kits developed by the University of the Philippines’ National Institutes of Health could be rolled out.
Vergeire pointed out that the fresh supply of test kits did not mean that mass testing should already be done.
She stressed that the priority for testing were still people exhibiting severe symptoms, with underlying illnesses or those from the vulnerable groups like the elderly or high-risk pregnant women.
Health Undersecretary Abdullah Dumama said a fully operational SPMC would help decongest the RITM’s load and speed up the generation of results which are necessary in calibrating local government responses to the outbreak in the Davao region.
The RITM recently sent 100 test kits to SPMC, which are now being utilized to “break in” its new equipment.
Considering the spike on persons under investigation in the region, SPMC has ordered 1,000 more test kits.
General Santos City officials are also asking for the establishment of a local COVID-19 testing facility.
A testing center in General Santos City can serve patients from South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos, said General Santos Mayor Ronnel Rivera.
Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar S. Moreno also wants a similar laboratory in northern Mindanao.
Closer to Manila, local governments in Southern Tagalog Region are making do with outdoor tents and buildings converted into screening centers as they prepare for more COVID-19 patients.
In Imus City, Cavite, Mayor Emmanuel Maliksi opened a “field hospital” made up of five multiuse tents, each with about ten hospital beds, oxygen tanks and other medical equipment, outside the Ospital ng Imus. These will accommodate persons possibly infected but have yet to be tested for the virus.
Only for severe cases
The DOH instructed officials to take persons with severe symptoms to the Southern Tagalog Regional Hospital in nearby Bacoor City.
Cavite’s Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo Memorial Hospital in the capital Trece Martires City can accommodate a maximum of 13 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
In Laguna, the provincial health office and the DOH may convert a sports complex in the capital town of Sta. Cruz into a COVID-19 hospital.
In Batangas province, Lipa City has converted a building into a “screening and quarantine area” for persons under investigation (PUIs).
The government hospital in San Pablo City can accommodate 20, the Jose Rizal Memorial Hospital in Calamba City 10, and the Laguna Medical Center in Sta. Cruz 6.
Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said Saturday that the 110 evacuation centers that they had recently built across the country may be converted by the various local governments into health facilities. These can accommodate more than 4,600 people.
Four evacuation centers are also being considered by the DOH as temporary hospitals in anticipation of a surge in cases in Central Luzon.
In addition to the test kits, China also donated 100,000 surgical masks, 10,000 N95 masks and 10,000 sets of personal protective equipment, which were flown in by chartered flights.
On the Chinese Embassy’s Facebook page, Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian said that “despite its own difficulties, Beijing was able to raise the medical materials in a short period for the Philippines.”
“This has not only demonstrated the brotherhood between China and the Philippines, but also reflected the Chinese vision of a community of shared future for mankind as advocated by President Xi Jinping,” Huang said.
Locsin, who received the donation in simple ceremonies at a warehouse in Ninoy Aquino International Airport complex, told reporters the donation was a “tremendous help” from China and a model for what the “rest of the world should be doing.”
“Instead of blaming each other of what’s happening, they should all start working together to help each other. And this is concrete proof,” he said.
—With reports from Jerome Aning, Maricar Cinco, Karlos Manlupig and Rommel Rebollido