DOH tests 23,000 people for coronavirus; 82% test negative

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government has conducted a total of 22,958 tests for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), of which over 82 percent resulted negative.

Health Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in a Laging Handa press briefing Monday, said that a total of 16,615 tests or 82.7 percent turned out to be negative, while 3,414 or 16.9 percent yielded positive results.

Vergeire, however, clarified that the positive test results does not reflect the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country as the number could include repeat tests of COVID-positive patients.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country remains at 3,246 and the DOH will release an update on Monday afternoon.

“The 3,414 number of positive cases mentioned in the Laging Handa briefing is the number of positive individuals tested as of last night. This may include repeat tests of positive patients,” Vergeire told INQUIRER.net in a text message.

Testing for COVID-19 will “scale up” once laboratories expand their testing capacities, she added.

The current numbers also do not yet indicate whether cases are decreasing or increasing as a result of the island-wide quarantine imposed over Luzon.

“Kailangan pa natin na maghintay pa ng panahon para makita natin ang tunay na numero ng COVID-19 cases,” the Health official said in the briefing.

(We need to wait some more for us to see the true numbers of COVID-19 cases in the country.)

Vergeire also clarified the alleged discrepancy in the reported number of conducted tests, saying that the DOH’s live tracker is suffering from technical issues

“We have been explaining that our novel coronavirus (nCOV) tracker is suffering from technical issues,” she said.

EDV