PH ramps up Covid-19 testing to 12K per day

FILE: Swab test booths at Enderun Tent in Taguig City (Photo courtesy of NTF vs. Covid-19 via PNA)

MANILA – The country can now conduct 12,000 Covid-19 tests per day, National Policy Against Covid-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Vivencio Dizon said Friday.

During the Laging Handa public briefing, Dizon attributed the increase in testing capacity to the setting up of more swabbing and laboratory testing centers nationwide.

Currently, there are 22 licensed testing laboratories and four mega swabbing centers.

The testing capacity has more than doubled, from only 5,000 tests last May 3. Authorities target to further increase the capacity to 30,000 by May 30.

“In the next days, we are full speed ahead with our testing efforts,” Dizon said.

The government and the private sector established four mega swabbing centers in Metro Manila. The swabbing center at the Palacio de Maynila Tent on Roxas Boulevard was the first to open Thursday.

Other swabbing centers are located at the Enderun Tent in Taguig City, the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, and the Philippine Arena, also a patient care center, in Bocaue, Bulacan.

“We can get 5,000 specimens from these swabbing centers which we will send to PRC (Philippine Red Cross) laboratories,” Dizon said in Filipino.

Dizon said at the Palacio de Maynila, some 250 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were tested.

Earlier, he said some 25,000 Filipinos who came home from overseas and are in patient care centers in Metro Manila for their mandatory quarantine would be prioritized for the testing to decongest the facilities.