Pasig mayor urges 3K residents to avail of free Covid-19 testing

MANILA – The Pasig  Pasig City government is set to roll out RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) pooled testing for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) to some 3,000 selected residents via the private sector-led pooled testing initiative under Project Ark.

In his social media post on Saturday, Mayor Vico Sotto urged the residents to avail of the free Covid-19 testing offered by the city government.

“Huwag lamang ang sarili nating kapakanan ang isipin kundi ang kapakanan din ng iba (Think not only of our own well-being but the welfare of others also),” Sotto said.
Sotto said the city government has identified various sectors that are more exposed to the risks of Covid-19 infection, to participate in the Covid-19 pooled testing.

Sotto said the city government targets to test some 1,000 market vendors, 1,000 public transportation drivers, and 1,000 food handlers residing and working within the city.

“Naiintidihan ko po yung concern nung iba na mawalan sila ng kita habang may Covid sila. Pero sana isipin po natin na kung positive tayo at wala lang sintomas, maaaring may nahahawaan tayo, tatagal ang pandemya (We understand some raised concerns about financial loss during the Covid-19 pandemic, but, we should keep in mind that if we are a Covid-19 positive who don’t have symptoms, we may infect others [unknowingly] and the pandemic may last longer),” he said, urging targeted residents to avail the free Covid-19 testing.

The Project Ark is an initiative of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship’s Go Negosyo, which aims to drastically boost the country’s capacity to identify and contain coronavirus cases by a pooled testing method.

Using the pooled testing method, the swab samples of multiple individuals are put into a single RT-PCR test.

Further assessment will be done if a positive result comes from a single batch of pooled tests.

If the swab tests come back negative, there is no need to undertake individual tests.

Sotto reminded the selected residents to participate in the pooled testing so that the positive cases will be immediately isolated away from the public places.

“‘Pag inalok tayo ng Lungsod ng libreng testing, tanggapin na natin agad (When the city offered us a free Covid-19 testing, we should accept it immediately),” he said.