Dizon: Gov’t aims to conduct 1 million COVID-19 tests by July

MANILA, Philippines — The National Task Force (NTF) on COVID-19 response aims to conduct a million coronavirus tests by July, following the arrival of an initial 1.05 million test kits.

National Action Plan against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon said on Friday that with the increase of test kit supply, the expanded testing will be implemented in heavily-dense regions including Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Cebu, and Davao.

Testing will likewise include cases that show no symptoms of the disease.

“Mayroon tayong bagong sini-set na goal. Dahil dumating na po ang napakaraming [testing] supply, ang goal po natin para magamit ang mga test na ‘yan at mabigyang benepisyo ang ating mga kababayan, ay by July dapat one million tests na tayo,” Dizon said in a statement.

(We are setting a new goal. We are aiming to use the newly-arrived testing kits and conduct one million tests by July.)

As of June 22, a total of 612,571 tests were conducted, or 1,340-percent increase, from the 17,414 tests last March, he pointed out.

The country has likewise exceeded its goal of 50,000 estimated daily testing capacity by June, with 51,302 daily testing capacity as of June 19.

The number of accredited testing laboratories has also reached 66 as of June 24 from only one last February, Dizon said.

The NTF will also recommend to the Department of Health to test non-medical frontliners in the following sectors: transport and logistics, security and sanitation, education, media, retail, food, and services, as well as other employees returning to their respective workplace.

“Napaka-importante noon kasi hindi lang ‘yun proteksyon para lang sa kanila dahil napakadalas ng contact nila sa mga kababayan natin; pero proteksyon din ‘yun para sa community na ma-test natin sila at masiguro na hindi sila mahahawa at hindi rin sila makakahawa,” said Dizon.

(That is important because they come in contact with lots of our citizens to make sure that they are not infected and they will not infect other people.)

So far, the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country have reached 33,069, with 8,910 recoveries and 1,212 fatalities. #