Govt eyes mass Covid testing in Visayas

THE government is considering conducting mass testing in the Visayas to stop the further transmission of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in central Philippines, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) said on Tuesday.

OPAV Assistant Secretary Jonjie Gonzales said the Visayas had enough Covid-19 test kits. On top of the 40,000 donated test kits, an additional 50,000 kits would be purchased for the massive testing in the Visayas. “Hindipwedenghanggang lockdown o ECQ lang (We cannot just implement a lockdown or enhanced community quarantine),” Gonzales said.

“We have improved testing capabilities. We already have 40,000 test kits in the Visayas. We will be procuring 50,000 swab kits so that we can conduct massive testing in the Visayas,” he added.

Gonzales said around 20,000 kits were donated by the Cebu City government to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu

City while the remaining 20,000 were given by the Christina Lee Dino Foundation and by casino junket operator Kim Wong.

Gonzales said the entire Visayas was bracing for a possible “worstcase” scenario even if it only has 49 confirmed Covid-19 cases so far.

He said that protocols aimed at detecting severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) and influenza-like illness (ILI) have also been implemented.

“These protocols allow us to find [Covid-19 carriers]. And we are not waiting for the patients to come to the hospital or to the health centers paramagpa- check (to have their conditions checked),” Gonzales said.