MANILA, Philippines — Senator Grace Poe on Wednesday said there should be mass testing of residents in some areas in Metro Manila that were placed under localized lockdowns due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
In a statement, Poe said the government should not lose “the sense of urgency” in conducting mass testing and contact tracing, saying these are the backbone of the country’s response.
“Granular lockdowns being imposed in some areas in Metro Manila should have complementary testing of the residents not just in the area, but of the surrounding communities as well,” Poe said.
This, as some areas in Metro Manila, such as neighborhoods in Manila, Makati and Muntinlupa have imposed localized lockdowns in their respective areas.
Aside from this, the senator also suggested that the government should carry out many tests as possible, including those who have no visible symptoms as it is a “preemptive strike to lessen the risk of exposing their household, immediate community and workplace to infection.”
Without mass testing, the spread of COVID-19 would just resume upon the lifting of the lockdowns, Poe said.
“We hope the government is persistently working to achieve its promise of 10 million tests by the first quarter of 2021, and even more,” she later added.
As of March 16, the national government has vaccinated a total of 216,794 medical frontliners, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said.
The Philippines has been rolling out its COVID-19 vaccination program since March 1 with 600,000 doses of Sinovac Biotech vaccines from China and 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility. – Liezelle Soriano Roy, trainee