The government aims to reach 1 million tests for the coronavirus disease 2019 by next month, the deputy chief implementer of the National Policy Against COVID-19 said Thursday.
In a Palace briefing, Vivencio Dizon said the country now has the capacity to test more persons as over 1 million test kits arrived last weekend.
The expanded targeted community testing will focus especially on Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Cebu, and Davao, he said.
As of June 23, actual Covid-19 tests already reached 612,571 from just 17,414 tests last March, he said.
Dizon reiterated the country’s daily testing capacity has improved since the COVID-19 outbreak in March with the increased number of testing laboratories and enough supply of test kits.
From a 2,000 test capacity in a day in March, the country has improved to 51,302 tests per day as of June 19, he added.
The country already hit its 50,000 testing capacity target earlier than end-June 2020.
He said the country now also has 66 testing laboratories.
Dizon said a high number of confirmed COVID-19 cases will be expected in the coming weeks as the government accelerates the testing activities.
“This is important that our public should understand that while we are increasing our testing capacity, we will find more positive cases; but the positivity rate is declining,” he said in Filipino.
Dizon said the COVID-19 positivity rate in the Philippines fell from 20 percent during the period when testing was limited, to nearly 5 percent to date.
Positivity rate is the percentage of people confirmed being infected with COVID-19 out of the total number of tested persons.
“According to the WHO (World Health Organization), a 5 percent positivity rate and lower is a sign that a country is improving in its management on COVID-19 cases. We are near that point. We are nearly below 5 percent,” Dizon said.
He added that the turnaround time of COVID-19 tests also improved from more than two weeks in March to only 48 to 72 hours this month as automated testing has sped up the results.
The Palace, meanwhile, said all media workers can avail themselves of free COVID-19 testing.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the free polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing would be offered to reporters, cameramen and photographers, newsroom employees, and other media workers, saying they would be treated as front-liners.
Besides media, other non-medical front-liners who may also undergo free COVID-19 testing are the police, military, coast guard, Bureau of Fire Protection workers, barangay tanods, contact tracing teams, mortuary and cemetery workers, and social workers and other facility volunteers.
Residents in hot spot villages may also receive free testing, Dizon said.
He said all non-medical front-liners could visit either public or private labs, such as those run by the Philippine Red Cross, to undergo testing.
“It’s not only protection for them because they have frequent contact with many of our citizens but protection for the community to ensure that they do not get infected and do not infect others,” Dizon said in Filipino.
Roque, meanwhile, said the Department of the Interior and Local Government is aiming to hire some 50,000 contact tracers this month to boost the country’s contact tracing capabilities and promote job creation.
The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday reported 778 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, raising the nationwide total to 33,069.
Of the number, 415 are considered fresh cases, while 363 are late cases.
The DOH also reported eight new fatalities from the contagious disease, bringing the death toll to 1,212.
The number of people who recovered from coronavirus infection rose by 255 to 8,910, the DOH said in a bulletin.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday reported 10 more Filipinos abroad have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total tally to 8,361.
Total recoveries among the Filipinos abroad rose to 5,076 with four new ones while one more fatality brought the death toll to 513.
Some 2,772 Filipinos were still undergoing treatment in various countries abroad.
Also on Thursday, the Taguig City government said it is working closely with the Philippine Stock Exchange in testing and contact tracing after one of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus disease.
“The City of Taguig, through its Safe City Task Force, has been closely coordinating with the Philippine Stock Exchange to ensure the safety of its employees and other workers,” the city’s public information office stated in its advisory
On Wednesday, the PSE trading floor and head office in Bonifacio Global City voluntarily closed for 24 hours after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.
Together with PSE safety officers, local government personnel were instructed to facilitate contact-tracing and disinfection of the premises.
The city government has also coordinated with the national testing center at the Enderun Colleges in McKinley Hill to conduct PCR test on PSE employees who physically reported to the PSE building beginning with the frontline staff and will provide vehicles to transport them.
Mayor Lino Edgardo Cayetano said the city government is committed to working closely with all stakeholders to keep Taguig safe and open for business.
Earlier, the city government placed a construction site also in Bonifacio Global City under a localized lockdown after six workers were tested positive for coronavirus disease.
During the 15-day lockdown, all employees will be closely monitored, and no one will be allowed to enter or leave the construction site.
Of the 27 suspected cases, at least six construction workers have tested positive for COVID-19.