Manila to test 1,000 people during Sampaloc lockdown

PRETEST PREPARATIONS Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management personnel set up a decontamination booth outside Geronimo Elementary School where suspected coronavirus patients in the Sampaloc district will undergo rapid antibody testing starting on Friday. —RICHARD A. REYES

As the entire district of Sampaloc, Manila, is placed under a 48-hour “hard lockdown” from 8 p.m. Thursday until 8 p.m. Saturday, around 1,000 selected residents will undergo rapid testing for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Ospital ng Sampaloc director Aileen Lacsamana said the mass testing would be conducted by personnel from the hospital and city health department.

Sampaloc currently has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Manila which has 519 confirmed cases. Of the total, the district accounts for 108, followed by Tondo with 67, prompting Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso to order the 48-hour hard lockdown.

All commercial establishments, except for drug stores and funeral homes, will be closed during the entire period and residents will be “strictly” confined to their houses, with the exception of front-liners.

Beginning Friday, those in the area who are senior citizens, have preexisting chronic ailments, experience flu-symptoms or have been exposed to a COVID-19 positive patient will undergo rapid antibody testing at Geronimo Elementary School, said Lacsamana.

Blood samples will be taken from each patient for screening with the results known in 10 minutes.

“Though the test is easily done [using] finger pricking, the important part is the interpretation. [Health care workers] will determine if the subject needs to do quarantine,” she added.Lacsamana said that those who test positive would be brought to a holding area where they would undergo counseling. They would then be taken to the Delpan quarantine facility for swab tests to confirm their initial results.

Earlier this month, the city-run Ospital ng Sampaloc temporarily halted operations after 11 of its staffers were diagnosed with COVID-19. It reopened earlier this week.

“Most [hospital] workers are back. We’re still monitoring seven COVID-19 positive health workers who are experiencing mild [symptoms]. Only one staffer is admitted but the condition is stable,” Lacsamana told the Inquirer in a phone interview.According to her, the hospital has a sufficient supply of personal protective equipment to protect its staff from being infected by coronavirus-positive patients.