“Mukhang hindi po aabot dito sa 8,000 for April 30, though sinusubakan ho natin dahil ngayon po dumating na ‘yung cartridges natin for GeneXpert.”
[Looks like we will not reach 8,000 for April 30, though we are trying because our cartridges for GeneXpert has arrived.]
This was what Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told the public in the Laging Handa press briefing on April 29 regarding the status of testing in the country.
The number 8,000 is the DOH testing capacity target by the end of this month. The end of this month is also the end of the first extension of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in all of Luzon. The extension was also supposed to be for the government to ramp up testing capabilities, building quarantine centers and other plans for it to step up addressing the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
The ECQ has been extended until May 15 in the National Capital Region, CALABARZON, Central Luzon, Pangasinan, Baguio City, Benguet, Iloilo, Cebu, Cebu City and Davao City. All other areas were placed under a general community quarantine or the “new normal.”
The health department’s spokesperson cited the scaling down of laboratory operations at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) as a reason why the government would not reach the target for the month of April.
The scaling down was done after 43 employees contracted the disease. RITM handles the bulk of COVID-19 testing for the country. Data retrieved from the COVID-19 DOH Data Drop reveals that 51,191 of the reported 103,442 tests as of April 29 were made by the institute.
Testing capacity, testing capacity targets and actual tests
Vergeire previously said in a press briefing on April 4 that they are aiming to conduct 8,000 to 10,000 tests per day by the end of the month.
On the April 29 DOH press conference, Vergeire said that the country has reached a testing capacity with a minimum of 2,895 tests to a maximum of 6,420 tests per day. She also stressed that the department has not stopped in pursuing the target of 8,000 tests per day.
“As of now po, hinihintay na lang natin madeliver ang ibang mga machines at kagamitan para sa RT-PCR testing sa Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital na nakapagset-up na at makakapagdagdag sa ating daily testing capacity by as much as 3,00 tests per day. Kung ang basehan natin ay ang current testing capacity of a maximum of almost 6,500 tests per day, makakapagsagawa na po tayo ng almost 9,500 tests per day,” the Health official added.
Government officials have put out targets in press briefings for the past month. On April 7, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles mapped out plans that he said would increase the country’s testing capacity to at most 20,000 per day by April 27.
On April 20, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that the opening of the Philippine Red Cross testing center would double the testing capacity to 20,000, with the then 17 labs currently able to run 8,000 to 10,000 tests.
“Ngayon dumating na tayo sa punto na bukas po, meron na tayong kakayanan na hanggang 20,000 testing daily. Pero kulang pa rin yan dahil kinakailangan nating ma-test at least 1 percent ng 110 million Filipinos],” Roque said in his press briefing.
[We have come to a point where by tomorrow, we can run as much as 20,000 tests daily. But that’s still not enough because we should test at least 1 percent of the 110 million Filipinos.]
National Task Force Covid-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. can be remembered saying on April 2 that the country could do “massive testing” by April 14. By that date, the testing capacity of the country was only expanded to 3,000 tests per day. A few days before April 14, the health department revised the classification for COVID-19 patients, removing PUMs and excluding ‘contact’ cases that is part of the World Health Organization categorization of individuals in relation to COVID-19.
In a virtual hearing of the House Defeat Covid-19 Committee (DCC), Galvez was reported saying that the government would do massive and expanded testing of suspected cases in the National Capital Region not later than May 7. The NTF is also aiming to conduct 20,000 tests daily starting May 15 and expand that to 30,000 by May 30.
There are already 20 accredited testing facilities in the country, most of them still inside Metro Manila, with regional hubs set up in Baguio, Cebu, Iloilo and Davao. Many of the 72 facilities who applied to be able to process COVID-19 samples are still at Stage 4 or below.
Testing centers in the country
