COVID-19 test kits from China to be allocated to subnational laboratories — DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The 100,000 test kits donated by China will be allocated to the country’s subnational laboratories for COVID-19 testing, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

“Ito po ay ipapakalap natin sa ating mga subnational laboratories. Ang mga allocation po ng bawat subnational laboratory ay base sa pangangailangan at sa kapasidad ng laboratoryo kung ilang ang kaya nilang magawa sa isang araw,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a “public” briefing aired over state-run PTV.

The DOH earlier announced that five sub-national laboratories are now operating alongside the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), namely, the San Lazaro Hospital, and Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center for Luzon, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center for Visayas and Southern Philippines Medical Center for Mindanao.

The health official, however, noted that the RITM will still receive the majority of the new test kits, given that it has the biggest capacity among the said laboratories.

“Mostly po ng allocation ay sa RITM pa rin kasi sila po ang may pinakamataas na numero ng magagawang test kasi marami po silang makina,” she said.

Originally, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa was the only facility certified to conduct clinical tests for the disease in the country.

Vergeire also said that the health department does not recommend rapid testing kits for use as she raised concerns with the precision of the results from these kits.

“Itong mga rapid test kits maaring magbigay ng false negative results,” Vergeire said, adding that patients discharged with false-negative results may contribute to the further spread of the virus.

President Duterte on Monday placed the entire Luzon under lockdown until April 13 amid the increasing COVID-19 cases in the country, forcing over 50 million Filipinos to stay in their homes and allowing only one person per household to go outside to purchase basic necessities and provisions for food.

As of date, there are 396 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, 33 of whom have died while 18 recovered.

The virus was first detected in Hubei, China and has so far infected more than 290,000 and killed nearly 13,000 across 186 countries and territories.