MANILA, Philippines—The Asian Development Bank donated two COVID-19-testing machines that have the capability to test nearly 100 people per hour to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) machines will be installed in the Philippine Army Molecular Laboratory, which will support the AFP’s testing capabilities among its personnel in Metro Manila.
“ADB supports the Philippine government’s strategy to prevent and control COVID-19 by expanding testing, particularly in hardest-hit Metro Manila and surrounding provinces,” said ADB Director General for Southeast Asia Ramesh Subramaniam in a statement posted on the ADB website.
“We have seen military personnel in action on the frontline from the beginning of the pandemic and we hope the new testing machines will help ensure the safety of AFP’s essential workers.”
The AFP has been at the forefront of the government’s attempts in curbing the effects of the pandemic with personnel stationed along checkpoints, in military camps and quarantine facilities.
Procurement of the machines, which are worth $35,000 each, is part of ADB’s $5 million Rapid Emergency Supplies Provision Assistance to the Philippines that was approved in March 2020.
The program is locally known as Bayan Bayanihan and involves the ADB working closely with the AFP to urgently deliver emergency food assistance to around 162,000 vulnerable households to Metro Manila and nearby provinces in April and May 2020.