Manila’s 5th testing center now open

MANILA, Philippines — Manila opened on Wednesday its third walk-in center, which can test some 300 people a day for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso.

With the addition of the newest facility at the Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital, the city government now has five centers (three walk-ins and two drive-thrus) that offer free antibody testing for the coronavirus to both residents and nonresidents. It has also a mobile serology testing site that is deployed to villages with a high number of COVID-19 cases.

Data from the city government showed that since it launched the program two weeks ago, 9,753 people have undergone testing for the coronavirus. Of the total, 8,458 were tested at the drive-

thru centers near Plaza Lawton and Quirino Grandstand while the rest went to the walk-in facilities.

Meanwhile, 19,271 swab tests have been conducted by the city government since March.

Domagoso said that in one community, of the 100 people tested, 39 were found positive and all of them were asymptomatic.

This supported the Department of Health’s data that many infected individuals do not exhibit any symptoms, he added.

Domagoso said the city needed about P2 million a day for the free mass testing program.