Robredo seeks improvement in testing, contact tracing amid soaring COVID-19 cases

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday called for an improvement in the country’s testing and contact tracing efforts amid soaring COVID-19 cases.

“Lagi natin pinu-push na dagdagan. Dagdagan ‘yung number of tests kasi ‘pag ‘di natin dinagdagan, tataas lang ito nang tataas. Kasi baka ang dami nang infected na hindi nate-test,” Robredo raised in the Biserbisyong Leni program.

(We always push to add more tests because if we don’t, cases will continue to increase. There may be a lot of infected who are not tested.)

“Paminsan, kahit available ‘yung pang-test, mahina ‘yung contact tracing. So talagang kulang ‘yung naka-line up na mga ite-test kasi hindi nagte-trace enough,” the vice president added.

(Sometimes, even though tests are available, contact tracing is lacking. So, there is a gap in the line up of testing because contact tracing is not enough.)

This, after the Philippines reported more than 14,000 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, one of the country’s highest daily new infections.

Robredo noted that there should be accessibility and affordability in COVID-19 testing and better contact tracing to address the spike in cases.

Robredo also expressed alarm over the 24.9 percent positivity rate that the country recently recorded.

“Anong gustong sabihin ng 25 percent? Bawat apat na tine-test, isa dun positive. So, ang laki-laki nun,” Robredo explained.

(What does the 25 percent mean? For every four individuals tested, one of them is positive. That’s a significant number.)

Citing an international standard, Robredo said that the positivity rate should be less than five percent.

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