Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Monday that the government cannot shoulder mass testing for the private employees due to lack of testing capacity and will leave it up to the discretion of the private sector to conduct the testing for their employees.
In response to the calls for mass testing rampant in social media, Roque said that the government is still trying to increase the testing capacity in the country.
“Well, as much as possible po ano, mayroon tayong—ini-increase natin iyong capacity natin ng testing kaya nga we’re aiming na aabot tayo sa 30,000. (Well, as much as possible, we’re increasing our testing capacity and we’re aiming to reach 30,000.),” Roque said.
Amid the eased quarantine measures that allowed employees to go back to work, Malacañang admitted that the government still has no program to carry out mass testing to detect the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) despite the rising number of cases in the country.
“Pero in terms of mass testing na ginagawa ng Wuhan na all 11 million, wala pa pong ganiyang programa at iniiwan natin sa pribadong sector. (But in terms of mass testing like what Wuhan did for all of its 11 million people, we still don’t have that kind of program so we’re leaving it to the private sector),” the spokesperson added.
The government earlier rejected the idea of mass testing, but later on implemented a “progressive COVID-19 testing program” that prioritizes those inducing symptoms of the coronavirus disease, the elderly, those with pre-existing conditions, pregnant women with mild symptoms, and health workers with symptoms.
“In an ideal world, dapat lahat ng tao, ma-test [for COVID-19]. Pero ang RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) testing laboratories natin ay 30 pa lang. Eh dapat, ‘di bababa sa 90. Nagkakaubusan rin ng rapid test kits (In an ideal world, everyone should be tested for COVID-19. But our RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) testing laboratories are only 30 when it shouldn’t be lower than 90. Testing kits are also running out of stock),” Roque said.
Roque also said that testing kits are now hard to obtain since China is not exporting anymore since they are testing 11 million people in Wuhan and the US is buying all the testing kits available.
Project ARK
One million rapid test kits were raised by private companies who have organized Project ARK or Antibody Rapid Test Kits for the use of barangays as well as for workers looking to return to work.
Dra. Minguita Padilla, the medical team chief of Project ARK, said that the private companies also acquired RT-PCR kits to be used sparingly along with the test kits. The RT-PCR kits will be installed in government-run hospitals to boost capacity.
“We cannot hide from the virus forever. We have guidelines on how to go back to work… For asymptomatics, government will not test muna kasi nga wala pang kakayahan, kulang pa ng PCR (tests) kaya tumutulong kami (We cannot hide from the virus forever. We have a guideline on how to go back to work. For asymptomatics, the government will not test in the meantime because of the lack of PCR tests, which is why we’re helping,” Padilla said.
PCR tests are said to be the gold standard as these detect the presence of the actual coronavirus in swab samples.
Mandatory testing for work returnees
Labor group Defend Jobs Philippines pressed the government to carry out mass testing to detect COVID-19 among employees working in the private sector once they return to work.
The labor group also said that rapid mass testing for Filipinos should also be available as the easing of the quarantine restrictions is executed.
“Instead of dismissing proposals of testing all returning workers, the DOH (Department of Health) and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) must have stricter rules and guidelines to private employers to require its workers to undergo coronavirus testing,” said Defend Jobs Philippines spokesperson, Thadeus Ifurung.
Ifurung also said that the DOH and IATF “must use their authority to start making aggressive measures to conduct massive COVID-19” in the country as this would help identify cases quickly and resolve the national health emergency.
As of writing, the Philippines has recorded 12,513 COVID-19 cases, with 2,635 have recoveries and 824 deaths.