MANILA, Philippines — Some 500,000 rapid test kits will be distributed to more than 200 companies to test their workers for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and ensure that their businesses are safe for reopening.
In a statement on Sunday, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion announced the arrival of the first batch of the test kits to be distributed to 205 partner-companies of Project ARK (antibody rapid test kits) for the screening of their employees.
Project ARK is a private sector initiative to make mass testing available nationwide.
According to Concepcion, who is also Go Negosyo founder, Project ARK will be flying in on May 19 and 20 two planeloads of swab testing equipment, including automated extractor machines, donated by the private sector.
He said the initiative was aimed at supporting the expansion of the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests in government hospitals and selected private medical institutions.
“Through the collaborative effort of the Department of Health, the Philippine Red Cross and Go Negosyo partners, we should be looking at 30,000 tests a day in 45 days and hopefully within the next three months, we would attain 50,000 tests,” he said.
The goal of Project ARK is to “make swab testing prices more affordable,” Concepcion said. “That is why we partnered with some government hospitals that can offer it at less than P1,700 per PCR test. In this way, we will be able to make it more accessible to everyone.”
Initiative
Part of Project ARK’s endeavors is a PCR initiative to help set up automated laboratories and upgrade manual laboratories with modern facilities.
Its PCR laboratories make the COVID-19 test accessible as well as affordable and ensures the release of results within 24 hours, Concepcion said.
Economic activity should start and must be accompanied by aggressive mass testing, using both antibody rapid and RT-PCR tests “to avoid another lockdown,” he said.
“We strongly disagree that massive rapid testing of our employees is a waste of resources. It is, in fact, a way of protecting our businesses and the lives of our people. The private sector is spending more than P500 million to P600 million on this, but continuous lockdown is going to cost us much more,” Concepcion said.
“As for accuracy, we are encouraging companies to test every 14 days. The more we test, the more accurate our data will be,” he also said.
“That is our goal, to make testing accessible and affordable. Be it antibody rapid tests or RT-PCR tests. Affordable testing, tracing and treatment, that should be our marching orders if we want to keep the economy open. This, along with the proper use of masks, social distancing and other regulations, is key to winning the war.”
—JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE