MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Vice President (OVP) will be launching its free mobile antigen COVID-19 testing for areas with high coronavirus transmission in a bid to ramp up the testing capacities of local government units (LGUs.)
Called “Swab Cab,” the project will be piloted in Malabon city from March 30 to April 6.
“So ito, magpo-provide tayo ng mobile na parang bus, pupunta doon sa mga communities na grabe iyong transmission,” Vice President Leni Robredo explained Sunday during her weekly radio show.
(We will provide a bus that will go to communities where there is high transmission.)
“May partnership with the LGU kasi iyong mag-a-identify noong mga communities, pati iyong kung sino mismo iyong isa-swab, LGU rin iyong mag-a-identify kasi sila iyong nakakaalam,” she added.
(There is partnership with LGUs because they are the ones to identify the communities and who will undergo the testing.)
Robredo said a person who will test positive in the antigen test will be immediately isolated in a facility and will undergo a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, which considered the “gold standard” in COVID-19 detection.
“Kung antigen lang, makakabigay ito ng false sense of security o hindi talaga siya parang stand-alone na programa, pero bahagi siya ng malaking programa. So ito, kapag antigen na nag-positive ka, i-a-isolate ka na, i-a-RT-PCR ka na,” she explained.
(If they will only undergo an atigen test, it may give a false sense of security so it’s not a stand-alone program, but a part of a bigger one. If you are positive in the antigen test, you will be isolated and undergo the RT-PCR test.)