COVID-19 testing centers to open in all Quezon City districts

MANILA, Philippines – All six districts of Quezon City will each have a COVID-19 testing center in the upcoming days, the city government said on Sunday.

According to Mayor Joy Belmonte, the testing centers of Districts 4, 5, and 6 would open on Monday. District 4 will use the testing center at the Quezon Memorial Circle, which was initially open for the city’s community testing, while District 5’s testing center will at the SB Park in Novaliches.

The testing center for District 6 will be located at the University of the Philippines’ Asian Institute of Tourism on Commonwealth Avenue.

The testing centers for the remaining areas are still being finalized, but the local government will open it by Tuesday.

“We are opening more testing centers located in different districts so that we can accommodate and identify more residents who might have COVID-19,” Belmonte said.

According to the city government, the swabbing booths can conduct 50 tests per day, including blood testing and x-ray examinations, which will be manned by the health officers.

“The city government aims to conduct around 1,800-2,000 swab tests per week, including those that will be administered by local government hospitals namely Quezon City General Hospital, Rosario Maclang Bautista General Hospital, and Novaliches District Hospital and by the Quezon City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (QCESU) in their contact tracing,” the city government said.

“Specimens from these facilities will be forwarded to partner hospitals Lung Center of the Philippines and St. Luke’s Medical Center-Quezon City for testing  Also, the partnership between Quezon City government and Philippine Red Cross will also start this week with 1500 tests,” it added.

As of now, Quezon City remains to be the LGU with the most COVID-19 cases at 1,042 — 90 of whom have died while 87 have recovered.

While Quezon City accounts for 16.64%of the country’s COVID-19 patients — currently at 6,259 — the city has not recorded any deaths as of April 18.

Nationwide, the Department of Health has tallied 409 deaths and 572 recoveries out of those 6,259 cases.

Worldwide, over 2.33 million individuals have been infected, while 155,689 have died from the disease and 599,692 have recovered from it.

/atm