{"id":255300,"date":"2020-05-19T05:05:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T09:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=255300"},"modified":"2020-05-19T05:05:32","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T09:05:32","slug":"govt-targets-to-test-1-5-to-2-of-ph-population-for-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/05\/19\/govt-targets-to-test-1-5-to-2-of-ph-population-for-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov’t targets to test 1.5% to 2% of PH population for Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque explained that the entire population could not be tested, stressing that no country has been able to test all its citizens. (File Photo: ALFRED FRIAS\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday said the government is eyeing to test 1.5 to 2 percent of the 110 million population to get a clear picture of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infections in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque explained that the entire population could not be tested, stressing that no country has been able to test all its citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not accurate to say that we don\u2019t have the mass testing policy. Number one, no country in the world tests every citizen, that\u2019s a fact. So what we are doing is we\u2019re trying to follow the best examples that we have and right now we\u2019re trying to follow the footsteps of South Korea; and that is why the goal is to test 1.5 to 2 percent of the total population,\u201d Roque said in an interview on CNN Philippines.<\/p>\n

In a virtual presser aired over state-run PTV-4, he further clarified that the term used should be \u201ctargeted testing\u201d and not mass testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the very beginning we have had a systematic policy of expanded targeted testing\u00a0at sa tingin po natin ang sinusunod lang natin<\/em>\u00a0(and I think what we follow) is benchmark recognized internationally specifically by the World Health Organization,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque said the government is also aiming to test up to 10 percent of the population of Metro Manila, the epicenter of Covid-19 outbreak in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWala pong perpektong<\/em>\u00a0formula,\u00a0kailangan lang nating sundin ang<\/em>\u00a0(There is no perfect formula, we just have to follow the) global benchmark and build capacity to test broadly and swiftly, at ito po ang ating ginagawa\u00a0(and that is what we are doing)<\/em>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Under government guidelines, those required to undergo testing are those symptomatic, those coming from abroad, those with close contacts, and those who tested positive in rapid antibody tests.<\/p>\n

Roque explained that his remark about leaving it to the private sector to boost the country\u2019s testing capacity was \u201ctaken out of context\u201d.<\/p>\n

Private sector employees are not required to undergo Covid-19 testing, according to the Department of Health (DOH).<\/p>\n

\u201cI said that the protocols of the DOH does not require Covid testing as a prerequisite to go back to work, but it doesn\u2019t mean that if the employers want to test them, they\u2019re prevented from doing so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also claimed that the Philippines has \u201cone of the most stringent testing protocols in the whole world\u201d citing how overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were subjected to such testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Philippines, every OFW that comes home has to be tested PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and meanwhile while waiting for the results, they have to be quarantined. And in addition, \u2018no, it\u2019s PhilHealth that pays for the cost of this PCR testing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

All PCR tests will be shouldered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).<\/p>\n

Public-private initiative<\/strong><\/p>\n

The government and private sector, Roque said, were working together to boost the country\u2019s testing capacity, stressing that there was no truth to the government \u201ctransferring\u201d the responsibility to the private sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng ginagawa po ng<\/em>\u00a0private sector,\u00a0sinu-supplementa nila e. Hindi namin tina-<\/em>transfer\u00a0yung<\/em>\u00a0responsibility (What the private sector is doing is they\u2019re supplementing the government\u2019s testing capacity. We\u2019re not transferring the responsibility),\u201d he said, noting that it was one way of expanding its targeted testing.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that the testing initiative of the government has been done in conjunction with the private sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has really been a public-private partnership as far as testing is concerned and I think this is for good reasons because testing is the only way we could determine where the enemy is \u2018no, as far as Covid-19 is concerned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Businesses know that the economy cannot reopen without a significant population being subjected to testing, he added.<\/p>\n

Currently, the private sector-led Project Anti-body Rapid Test Kits (Project ARK) has raised at least 1 million rapid antibody test kits.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Roque said the government has no problem with funds, since \u201cwhatever government does not provide, the private sector is more than willing to provide.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem is the depleting resources since the Philippines had to \u201ccompete with the rest of the world\u201d who are better in manufacturing test kits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think money is not the problem, it\u2019s also a supply problem, kasi nga po lahat ng (because all) countries in the world know that the only viable strategy is to test, isolate and then cure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As of May 15, the government was able to conduct 11,127 tests per day compared to the 5,000 tests per day on May 2. The goal is to conduct 30,000 tests per day by the end of the month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday said the government is eyeing to test 1.5 to 2 percent of the 110 million population …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":166939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255300","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255301,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255300\/revisions\/255301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}