DOH: Tampering with COVID-19 test results will help spread virus

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday warned people not to tamper with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test results as this will cause the virus to spread.

In an online media forum, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Philippine National Police (PNP) has already acted on reports of tampered test results after photos of an alleged printing shop in Quezon City went viral on social media for supposedly producing tampered medical certificates of COVID-19 test results.

Due to the incident, the Health official said local government units and institutions administering coronavirus tests should provide more safeguards to ensure the proper and secure release of the test results.

“Kailangang paigtingin ng ating mga local governments and other institutions ‘yung release ng results dahil ito ay importante at pine-fake nga eh,” Vergeire said.

[Our local governments and other institutions should secure the release of test results because this is very important and now people are faking it.]

“Dapat maintindihan din ng mga tao ‘yung pag-fake n’yan might cause the further transmission of diseases if we do that,” she added.

[The people should realize that faking COVID-19 test results might cause the further transmission of diseases.]

Vergeire said that the PNP found out that the documents being faked are medical certificates for rapid antibody tests.

She noted that more safety features such as a barcode may be provided in the test results to avoid incidents of tampering.

“Sa rapid antibody (tests) tayo ay makikipagusap na sa ating mga kasama sa ating local governments so that we can prevent these kind of things,” she said.

(For the rapid antibody tests, we will discuss it with local government officials so we can prevent these kinds of things.)

/MUF