{"id":251044,"date":"2020-04-03T03:48:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T07:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=251044"},"modified":"2020-04-03T03:48:26","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T07:48:26","slug":"ph-now-has-8-covid-19-testing-centers-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/04\/03\/ph-now-has-8-covid-19-testing-centers-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"PH now has 8 Covid-19 testing centers: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a virtual press briefing, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said faster identification and isolation of infected individuals are now possible, considering that the country has more accredited Covid-19 testing centers. (File photo<\/a>: pnagovph\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 There are now eight testing centers nationwide that can screen individuals suspected of being infected with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), Malaca\u00f1ang said on Friday.<\/p>\n

In a virtual press briefing, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said faster identification and isolation of infected individuals are now possible, considering that the country has more accredited Covid-19 testing centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, we cannot overemphasize how important it is for our health professionals and workers to properly identify and treat not just those who have been infected, but potential carriers of the virus as well,\u201d said Nograles, spokesperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.<\/p>\n

In Luzon, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City, San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, University of the Philippines – National Institutes of Health in Manila City, Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City, and Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center can now conduct tests for Covid-19, he said.<\/p>\n

Nograles said individuals from the Visayas who are potential Covid-19 carriers could go to the Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City and Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City to have themselves tested for the viral disease.<\/p>\n

He added that the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City is the sole health facility in Mindanao to be accredited as a testing center for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng pagdagdag po ng<\/em>\u00a0testing facilities\u00a0natin ay makakatulong sa agarang pag<\/em>-identify\u00a0at<\/em>\u00a0isolate\u00a0ng mga indibidwal na may<\/em>\u00a0Covid-19 (These additional facilities can help in the faster identification and isolation of individuals with Covid-19),\u201d Nograles said.<\/p>\n

Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr., who concurrently serves as the chief implementer of the government\u2019s national policy against Covid-19, announced on Thursday a plan to start mass testing persons suspected of having Covid-19 on April 14.<\/p>\n

The mass testing is seen as a solution to arrest the spread of Covid-19 in the country.<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, the Philippines had a total of 2,633 Covid-19 cases, with 107 fatalities and 51 recoveries.<\/p>\n

Nograles said the government\u2019s priority is to conduct the mass testing for patients under investigation (PUIs) and persons under monitoring (PUMs).<\/p>\n

\u201cUunahin muna natin \u2018yung<\/em>\u00a0PUIs and PUMs (We will prioritize PUIs and PUMs). What we\u2019re trying to do is we\u2019re trying to already bring to the isolation and quarantine facilities the PUIs, PUMs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nograles also encouraged those who are exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19 to be \u201ccompletely truthful\u201d to effectively curb the spread of the disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge everyone to be completely truthful because many others could suffer if you are not,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the case of this outbreak, the truth will help us contain the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 There are now eight testing centers nationwide that can screen individuals suspected of being infected with the coronavirus disease …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":251045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251046,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251044\/revisions\/251046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}