Patients recovering from COVID-19 continue to rise, with 52 new recoveries registered Friday, bringing the total to 487.
READ: COVID-19 Tracker: Philippines as of April 17, 2020
At the same time, the government will install about 132 sample specimen collecting booths throughout the country in line with efforts to improve the country’s testing capacity for COVID-19 infections.
Health officials reported 25 new deaths Friday, bringing total COVID-19 fatalities to 387. There were 218 new confirmed cases, bringing the total to 5,878.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said his department would not have to wait for the end of April to determine if the Enhanced Community Quarantine has flattened the curve on new infections.
He said the Department of Health intends to conduct some 8,000 to 10,000 COVID-19 tests daily by the end of April. The DOH on Tuesday started expanded testing by conducting about 3,000 tests a day.
The results of these tests, Duque said, could be used as a basis to determine if the ECQ will be extended or lifted.
The DOH is also relying on the advice of experts.
He said the recent expansion of testing capacity would be enough to give a clear picture of the COVID-19 crisis, and whether the number of cases has decreased or increased as a result of the lockdown.
“I think the expanded testing in the coming days is sufficient to give a good approximation of the epidemic curve in NCR, Luzon, as well as Region 4-A and Region 3,” he said.
READ: Local cases hit 5,453, top list in incidence in SEA
The country currently has 16 laboratories capable of testing for COVID-19 infection.
Duque said testing facilities should operate for 24 hours to maximize outputs.
“We have many laboratories right now, but I said, we should double the operating hours. The operating hours should not be 8 hours only, there should be three shifts or 24 hours so that we can double or triple the output,” he said.
He also said the testing laboratory in Marikina City is on its way to being accredited by the DOH.
Marikina City Mayor Marcy Teodoro earlier said he plans to open the testing center by Friday even without an accreditation from the Health department.
However, the DOH warned the local government unit that opening the testing center without the department’s approval may put the city’s residents at risk.
As this developed, the DOH announced Friday that it is conducting Emergency Hiring of Health Personnel for COVID-19 Response.
“We are now hiring physicians, nurses, medical technologists, and other support health personnel on a contract of service basis, for a minimum of three months,” said Duque.
He said this aims to augment the current health workforce.
The DOH spelled out the monthly compensation and benefits:
1. Basic salary + premium of up to 20 percent of basic salary.
2. Up to P500/day hazard allowance.
3. P500 GSIS group insurance.
4. P1,000/month communication and transportation allowance
5. P100,000 in case of infirmity due to COVID-19 and P1,000,000 in case of death
6. Hospitalization benefits
7. Health personnel will also be entitled to other benefits.
Once hired, Duque said they will be deployed in the following order of priority: DOH-designated COVID-19 referral hospitals; temporary treatment and monitoring facilities for COVID-19; DOH-designated COVID-19 diagnostic facilities; public hospitals (national and local) handling COVID-19 patients; and private hospitals duly designated by the DOH to handle COVID-19 cases.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, the spokesman for the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, meanwhile, said the Department of Science and Technology will install 132 sample specimen collecting booths all throughout the country.
The specimen collection booths are intended to complement the 16 COVID-19 testing centers nationwide that have been accredited by the DOH, he said.
“As the IATF repeatedly stresses, improving our testing capabilities is one of the government’s top priorities,” he said in a virtual press conference aired on state-run PTV-4. “The DOST plans to set up at least 132 specimen collection booths in different regions nationwide… It will set up sample collecting booths nationwide to facilitate the government’s expanded testing efforts.”
In a Facebook post, DOST Secretary Fortunato dela Peña said about 34 specimen collection booths will be set up in Metro Manila.
Dela Peña said other collecting booths will be established in Zamboanga Peninsula (10), Central Luzon (8), and Central Visayas (7).
He added that there will be six sample collecting booths each in Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, and Western Visayas.
Bicol Region and Northern Mindanao will have five collection booths each, while Calabarzon, Davao Region, and Caraga Region will have four specimen collecting booths, Dela Peña said.
Dela Peña said three specimen collection booths will be set up each in Eastern Visayas and Soccksksargen, while two booths will be installed in Mimaropa.
Metro Manila’s accredited testing laboratories are UP National Institutes of Health and San Lazaro Hospital in Manila; Philippine Red Cross and Detoxicare Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory in Mandaluyong; Lung Center of the Philippines, St. Luke’s Medical Center and Victoriano Luna Hospital in Quezon City; The Medical City in Pasig; Makati Medical Center; St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig; and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa.
Other authorized testing centers outside of Metro Manila are Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu; Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao; Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo; and the Bicol Diagnostic and Reference Laboratory in Legazpi City.
Nograles said more testing laboratories will soon be operational, once they get certification from DOH.
He added that the IATF-EID supports the accreditation of all testing laboratories, including the one being established in Marikina City.
“As a general rule, the IATF fully supports the establishment and accreditation of all testing laboratories in the Philippines that will help us increase our testing capabilities and capacities,” Nograles said.
Also on Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs reported that 15 more Filipinos have died overseas due to coronavirus disease, bringing the death toll among Filipinos abroad to 103.
In latest update, the DFA said that 18 more patients have recovered from the virus in the Americas, which brought the total recoveries to 240. There are 757 confirmed COVID cases among overseas Filipinos.
The DFA said 414 patients were recorded to be undergoing treatment.
Meanwhile, 200 Filipino seafarers from Germany have been repatriated, the DFA said Friday.
The DFA said a plane carrying 200 seafarers from the Germany arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 9:19 a.m. Friday.
Sixty-six of the repatriates were crew members of the MV Amera, 130 of Albatros, three of River, and one of MV Amadea. They went through the appropriate airport medical protocols and will observe the mandatory quarantine.
According to the DFA, the local manning agencies of the vessels, the Five Star Marine Service Corp. and BSM Crew Service Center Philippines Inc., arranged their return in coordination with the Philippine Embassy in Berlin.
