Government sets sight on ‘target testing’ 2% of population for COVID-19 – Roque

The government aims to conduct “targeted testing” of 1.5 to 2 percent of the country's 110-million population to detect, isolate, and treat those with the new coronavirus disease, Malacañang said Tuesday.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque admitted that it was “impossible” to test the country's entire population, saying no country in the world tests every citizen. The latest statement was made to clarify his

previous remarks that the government has no mass testing program yet due to limited resources.

“It’s not accurate to say that we don’t have the mass testing policy. What we are doing is we’re trying to follow the best examples that we have and right now we’re trying to follow the footsteps of South Korea and that is why the goal is to test 1.5 to 2 percent of the total population,” he said in an interview over CNN Philippines Tuesday.

“We can’t test 110 million persons, but in any case, no country in the world will test every single citizen that they have,” he added.

Roque conceded that “targeted testing” is a better term to describe the government's testing efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

“Perhaps the better term is not mass testing but it should be targeted testing because I think it’s physically impossible to test 110 million but we’re aiming to test, also using statistics as a science 1.5 to 2 percent of our population,” he said.

In his televised press conference Monday, Roque said that “in an ideal world” everyone should be tested for the new coronavirus disease, but the government has no program for mass testing yet due to limited resources. The government instead will rely on the assistance of the private sector to help boost the country's testing capacity, particularly for returning workers, for the meantime.

“As much as possible po ano, mayroon tayong – ini-increase natin iyong capacity natin ng testing, kaya nga we’re aiming na aabot tayo sa 30,000. Pero in terms of mass testing na ginagawa ng Wuhan na all 11 million, wala pa pong ganyang programa at iniiwan natin sa pribadong sektor (As much as possible, we are increasing our testing capacity so we are aiming to reach 30,000 [daily tests]. But in terms of mass testing like that implemented in

Wuhan where 11 million will be tested, we don’t have a similar program and we’re leaving that up to the private sector),” he said.

In his weekly report to Congress on Monday, President Duterte said the country's testing capacity for the coronavirus continues to increase as more testing facilities are established.

The President affirmed the government's commitment to strengthen the country's health system capacity through detection and isolation measures to ensure the protection of public health.

“While we are slowly reopening the economy, our commitment to protect and maintain the health of our people remains as top priority,” Duterte said in his eighth weekly report to Congress on his additional powers to combat the coronavirus under the Bayanihan law.

As of May 13, the President said a total of 189,469 tests have been conducted on 184,857 individuals. From May 8 to May 13, the average of conducted tests reached 7,809.

National Task Force (NTF for COVID-19) medical adviser Ted Herbosa said the Philippines was able to increase its testing for coronavirus to at least 11,000 tests per day, from 2,000 at the start of the imposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

He added that the Department of Health's approval of 35 molecular testing laboratories also helped increase the COVID-19 tests being conducted daily.

Herbosa said in an interview over DZBB said there seemed to be a “miscommunication” in the government's announcement that it will not shoulder the cost of mass testing for returning workers.

“From Day 1 of its implementation, the plan of the NTF for COVID19 is to prioritize testing,” Herbosa said. (With a report from Ellalyn de Vera-Ruiz)