Manila opens third COVID-19 testing center

FREE TESTING A man undergoes testing for the coronavirus at the Manila City government’s newly opened walk-in testing facility outside the Ospital ng Sampaloc. Available to both residents and nonresidents, the tests are free of charge. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

After seeing an “overwhelming demand” for free new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests at its two newly opened drive-thru sites, the Manila local government opened on Monday another testing center, this time for those without vehicles.

The walk-in facility, which can conduct 150 COVID-19 tests daily, is located outside the Ospital ng Sampaloc (Ossam). It is open to both residents and nonresidents of Manila free of charge.

“We made it adjacent to the hospital so that the high probability of being exposed [to the virus] will not increase,” Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said as he noted that people were avoiding going to hospitals for testing for fear of being infected.

The Ossam testing site is the third in the city after the drive-thru testing centers at Quirino Grandstand and Lawton. The three have a combined testing capacity of 1,050 a day and are open between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

So far, most of those who had themselves tested had either been exposed to a confirmed coronavirus case, experienced COVID-19 symptoms, wanted to have peace of mind, or needed to undergo testing to be cleared for work or travel, according to the city public information office.

Blood samples collected from patients would be processed using the COVID-19 serology testing machines purchased by the city government from American health-care company Abbott. The machines have an accuracy of 99.6 percent for specificity and 100 percent for sensitivity.

Once the test results of residents are processed, the city government will deliver to their houses their certificates from the Manila health department.

Nonresidents, on the other hand, can pick up their certificates from a specified lane at the Quirino Grandstand drive-thru facility.

As of Monday evening, a total of 2,454 individuals had undergone serology testing in the two drive-thru centers. Of this number, 1,576 results have been released with 174 found positive. Manila currently has 3,714 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 1,376 of which are active.

Peace of mind“When we opened the first drive-thru testing site in Lawton, we noticed that a lot of people wanted to have peace of mind and there was an overwhelming demand that caused [heavy] traffic in that area,” Domagoso said.

“I made a commitment to the public that in 48 hours, we will build another site and we were able to do so along Independence Road at Quirino Grandstand,” he added.

While the city government was determined to continue financing the testing centers and keep the tests free of charge, Domagoso appealed for donations to allow the city to buy more reagents that were needed to test more blood samples.

He said that additional walk-in testing centers would soon open at the Ospital ng Maynila, Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, Ospital ng Tondo and Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital.

Santa Ana Hospital houses the city’s infectious disease control center. INQ