After temporarily halting the various ways of free testing for COVID-19 being employed in the city of Manila, due to the recent typhoon that hit the country, it recently resumed with even greater intensity.
Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said the city’s Mobile Serology Testing Clinic went to Barangay 190, Zone 17 and Barangay 368, Zone 37, among others, to conduct mass testing.
Personnel from the Manila Health Department (MHD) headed by Dr. Arnold Pangan, and Manila Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO), under chief Arnel Angeles, went around the said areas to thwart the possibility of any community transmission of the deadly coronavirus.
Simultaneously, Domagoso said all the drive-thru and walk-in testing centers for COVID-19 also again began accepting those who want to be subjected to serology testing for various reasons like having symptoms, job requirement or mere peace of mind.
Domagoso urged the public to avail of the free COVID-19 testing which yields confirmatory results, unlike the rapid tests that sometimes result in false-negative and false-positive findings.
The drive-thru testing center at the Quirino Grandstand and the walk-in testing centers at the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, Ospital ng Tondo, Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital, Ospital ng Sampaloc, and Ospital ng Maynila all offer free COVID-19 testing even for non-Manilans.
On top of all these, Domagoso said the swab testing of public utility vehicle drivers, mall and hotel employees and public market vendors pursuant to an executive order he issued continues, with over 10,000 already swabbed.
In the first batch of some 5,000 tested, about 400 were found to be positive.