LEGAZPI CITY –– A few days before the expected lifting of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine, a top health officer of Masbate said there are no plans for mass testing in the province, which remains COVID-free.
Dr. Oscar Acuesta, officer-in-charge of Masbate Provincial Health Office, said on Thursday that “we cannot do COVID test because we do not have a laboratory for COVID-19.”
When asked if they have any plan to put up a test center in the province, Acuesta said, “no dialogue yet with the governor in putting up COVID-19 lab.”
Meanwhile, Masbate is sending swab samples to the Bicol Regional Diagnostic and Reference Laboratory (BRDRL) in Legazpi City in Albay for laboratory examination.
BRDRL is the lone testing center in the Bicol region.
The Department of Health Bicol’s COVID-19 tracker said all seven of the suspected cases in Masbate had tested negative.
The local government units in the province are setting up isolation facilities per municipality, where suspect and probable cases will be housed for monitoring.
Also on Thursday morning, the Ako Bicol Partylist donated 50 rapid test kits, personal protective equipment, surgical masks, face shields, and rubbing alcohol to the province.