COVID-19 testing labs told to allocate 20-30% of capacity to health workers

Update

MANILA, Philippines — All laboratories accredited for conducting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) tests nationwide have been ordered to allocate 20 to 30 percent of their daily testing capacity for healthcare workers, the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases said Monday.

“All subnational laboratories are directed to allocate between 20 to 30% of their daily testing capacity for health workers and the remaining 70% to 80% for patients,” IATF spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said in a press conference.

The directive was included in the interim guidelines of the country’s “expanded” COVID-19 testing efforts launched last week, the Palace official said.

The Philippines has so far opened 17 laboratories capable of conducting COVID-19 testing, namely, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine; Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center; San Lazaro Hospital; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center; Southern Philippines Medical Center; University of the Philippines National Institutes of Health; Lung Center of the Philippines; Western Visayas Medical Center; Bicol Public Health Laboratory; St Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City Victoriano Luna Hospital; The Medical City; Makati Medical Center; Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory; St Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City; Philippine Red Cross in Mandaluyong; and the Chinese General Hospital.

Nograles explained that “expanded” testing means the detection of all individuals who are at risk of contracting COVID-19, which include suspect cases or individuals with a relevant history of travel and exposure or contact, and health care workers with possible exposure to the disease.

Who will be tested?

The following are the levels of prioritization for COVID-19 testing according to the government guidelines:

Subgroup A: Patients or healthcare workers with severe or critical symptoms, have travel history or exposure to a confirmed COVID-19 case

Subgroup B: Patients or healthcare workers with mild symptoms, have travel history or exposure to  a confirmed COVID-19 case and are considered vulnerable

Subgroup C: Patients or healthcare workers with mild symptoms, have travel history or exposure to a confirmed COVID-19 case

Subgroup D: Patients or healthcare workers with no symptoms but have travel history or exposure to a confirmed COVID-19 case

Due to the global shortage of testing kits and limitations in local capacity for testing, there is a need to rationalize available tests and prioritize subgroups A and B, Nograles explained.

“However, in view of the expansion of testing capacity and to ensure healthcare workforce safety, subgroup C will be tested and health workers prioritized,” he added.

The expanded COVID-19 testing started Tuesday, with the government targeting to conduct 8,000 tests per day by the end of the month. The government is also eyeing to purchase 900,000 polymerase chain reaction-based kits and about two million rapid test kits.

But Nograles said these rapid test kits would be used as “standalone tests” to definitively diagnose or rule out COVID-19.

“Because these must be used in conjunction with RT-PCR, care must be exercised to not unduly consume RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) test kits for the sake of confirmation,” he said.

As of Sunday, there are 6,259 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country. Five hundred seventy-two patients have recovered while 409 others died.

Edited by GSG and updated by AC