Galvez: PH now has 15 COVID-19 testing facilities

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines now has 15 testing facilities for the novel coronavirus disease, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., National Task Force COVID-19 chief implementer, said Sunday night.

“Sa ngayon ay mayroon na tayong 15 COVID-19 testing facilities… Ang mga pasilidad na ito ay nakakatulong upang mapabilis at mapalawak ang ating kakayanan na makapag-test at makapag-identify ng COVID patients upang sila ay mabigyan ng karapatang medical treatment,” Galvez said in a virtual briefing.

(Now we already have 15 COVID-19 testing facilities… These facilities help us hasten and broaden our capability to test and identify COVID-19 patients so that we can give them appropriate medical treatment.)

According to his presentation, these testing facilities are as follows:

• Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM)
• San Lazaro Hospital
• UP National Institute of Health
• Lung Center of the Philippines
• Baguio General Hospital
• Medical Center Baguio
• Western Visayas Medical Center
• Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center
• Southern Philippines Medical Center
• Bicol Public Health Laboratory
• St. Lukes Medical Center – Global/Quezon City
• The Medical City – Pasig
• Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory
• Makati Medical City
• V Luna Hospital

Likewise, Galvez said there are 2,673 quarantine facilities in the country for suspected and probable COVID-19 cases. These quarantine facilities have a total bed capacity of 165,756.

Galvez further said 645 probable COVID-19 cases and 900 suspected cases are currently in these facilities.

“Sa darating na linggo, aasahan natin na magiging operational na rin ang anim na mass quarantine facilities na may kakayahang tumanggap na mahigit 2,000 na suspected and probable COVID-19 patients,” Galvez said.

(In the coming weeks, we can expect that six mass quarantine facilities will be operational. Those can accommodate more than 2,000 suspected and probable COVID-19 patients.)

Nine mass quarantine facilities are likewise expected to be opened in the following weeks, Galvez added.

As of Sunday, the DOH said there are 4,648 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, with the death toll reaching 297.

KGA