Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez, Jr. said in an interview with CNN Philippines today at 6:10pm, “Ongoing na po ang mass testing. 16,368 na po ang na-test natin.”
Data from the Department of Health NCOV Tracker as of April 2 (updated every 4 in the afternoon) showed that 4,726 people have been tested for COVID-19. Persons under investigation (PUIs) number to 1,154 and 6,321 others are under monitoring.
PUMs and PUI turn up “no data” and tests conducted has no data or indicator, as of the NCOV Tracker’s updating on 4pm of April 3.
Of the 4,726 tested as of April 2, 2,633 were confirmed positive or a rate of 56%. The 44% are those who tested negative or are still awaiting results.
The number of Persons Under Monitoriting (PUMs) have not changed much for more than a week.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the current numbers of the health department may not be updated or complete yet as some local government units may still be monitoring several persons but have not transmitted their information to the DOH.
For example, Laguna, a province that declared total lockdown when their PUIs reached 1,000 and PUMs reached 10,000 reported to have 821 PUIs, 5,644 PUMs ongoing and 7,677 PUMs cleared as of April 1.
Also, only last night or a few hours ago, Galvez said at a briefing in Camp Aguinaldo that the government expects to do massive testing by April 14.
“We expect that by April 14, we should be able to start massive testing,” Galvez said.
He said this will be due to their fast-tracking the accreditation of substantial laboratories so we can start with the mass testing of the PUIs and PUMs.
After this announcement from Galvez, Vergeire clarified yesterday that only PUIs and PUMs will undergo mass testing.
A few days ago, the media also asked about the tests done, with the IATF consultant Dr. Edsel Salvana answering a journalist that the 2,147 tests done at that time were individuals, but 11,000 tests (as one person may be tested more than once) have been conducted.
As of 5pm today, DOH confirms info on their tracking website that 2147 individuals have been tested for #COVID19, says figure is expected to rise. Dr. @EdselSalvana meanwhile says the TOTAL number of tests done is 11466 (not individuals).
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— Atom Araullo (@atomaraullo) March 27, 2020
Galvez also said in the interview today that they have received recommendations to extend the enhanced community quarantine for two weeks while some suggested one month, but will await the recommendation of the technical working group, or the IATF.
Galvez was named by President Rodrigo Duterte as the chief implementer of the government’s national response against the coronavirus disease or the National Task Force COVID-19s.
In the IATF virtual presser this morning, its Spokesperson Karlo Nograles said the Philippines already has eight COVID-19 testing centers: five in Luzon, two in Visayas and one in Mindanao.
The testing centers are: Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City; San Lazaro Hospital in Manila City; UP National Institutes of Health in Manila City; Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City; Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center in Benguet; Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City; and Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City.
