GUINOBATAN, Albay –– A day after it recorded its first healthcare worker who tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Naga City announced it would start “targeted mass testing.”
Mayor Nelson Legacion said his office has partnered with Medlane Diagnostic Solution, Inc. to conduct the first 5,000 tests using rapid testing kits.
Legacion said the mass testing would prioritize health workers, residents with symptoms, and those who arrived from Metro Manila and other places with COVID-19 cases.
The Food and Drug Administration said rapid test kits still need confirmatory tests using polymerase chain reaction machines because of the chances of “false negative” results.
Bicol region’s testing center in Legazpi City has only one PCR machine that can do 30 tests per day.
On Wednesday evening, a 25-year-old nurse from Bicol Medical Center was Naga City’s first healthcare worker to have tested positive for COVID-19.
A portion of the Dayangdang village, the patient’s permanent residence, and of San Felipe village, where the patient resides, were put under lockdown on Thursday morning.
As of this posting, the Bicol region has recorded five healthcare workers positive for COVID-19.
The four other healthcare workers are residents of Albay province.