MANILA, Philippines — A COVID-19 test taken on the fifth to the seventh day of quarantine yields the most accurate result regardless of variants, the Department of Health (DOH) said Saturday.
On Friday, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said new evidence suggests that it takes three to five days after exposure for a coronavirus infection with the Delta variant to show on a PCR test, shorter than the five to eight days timeline in earlier variants.
“We still hold the data na kahit na anong variants ‘yan, the most accurate na ating makukuha na resulta ng test would be from the fifth to seventh day. That is with any variant,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during the Laging Handa public briefing.
(We still hold the data that no matter the variant, the most accurate test result will be on the fifth to the seventh day of testing. That is with any variant.)
But even if the Delta variant may be detected earlier in a PCR test, Vergeire noted that travelers are quarantined on their arrival to the country, which will still prevent transmission.
“Kahit na hindi nagawa ‘yung test, kung sinasabing third to fifth day ang paglabas ng positive na test, naka-isolate po ang ating mga kababayan, ‘yung mga travelers natin,” she explained.
(Even if the testing was not done on the third to fifth day, the arriving travelers were placed on quarantine upon arrival.)
“They are on quarantine so wala po tayong namimiss out sa ating protocol. We can still ensure na wala pong hawaan na mangyayari o makakapanghawa sa community,” she added.
(They are on quarantine so we are not missing any protocol. We can still ensure there will be no transmission.)
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