Manila will also accept nonresidents for COVID-19 testing, says Isko Moreno

Mayor Isko Moreno (second from left) led the opening of Manila’s second COVID-19 mass testing center on Thursday, July 23, 2020. (Photo from the Manila Public Information Office)

MANILA, Philippines — Manila will be a “good neighbor” by allowing even nonresidents to avail of its free COVID-19 testing.

Mayor Isko Moreno made the announcement last Thursday during the launching of the national capital’s second walk-in testing center at the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center in Tondo.

“I want you to be proud as a ‘Batang Maynila’ that you are a good neighbor,” Moreno said, speaking partly in Filipino. “Although we’re handicapped, suffering, we still have the opportunity to be good neighbors to nearby communities.”

The city, Moreno said, would continue to find ways to sustain its mass testing operations as early detection was a key to preventing the spread of COVID-19.

“Being good is to spread caring for others, especially during a pandemic. For as long as we are able, we will not stop. For as long as there’s COVID-19, we will not stop,” he said.

About 2,100 Manila residents have already recovered from COVID-19 while 188 have died.

Moreno stressed that the city’s was taking an “inclusive approach” in its response to the pandemic .”

“It has to be confronted universally,” he said. “Together, the people, the government, will work hand-in-hand to confront COVID-19.”

The city’s two testing centers — the first one opened is at the Ospital ng Sampaloc —will get blood samples from patients and process them using the COVID-19 serology testing machines from American healthcare firm Abbott.

The machines have an accuracy of 99.6% for specificity and 100% for sensitivity.