New way to detect Covid-19 expected to lower testing cost, reach more people
ANEW way to detect Covid-19 infection that would be rolled out beginning today, January 25, is expected to lower costs for testing.
The Real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RTPCR) testing using saliva would start after it completed and passed all the requirements of the Department of Health (DOH).
“If more people would avail the saliva test, we can lower the cost in the future,” Senator Richard Gordon said.
Gordon, who is also chairman and CEO of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), added that “While waiting for the vaccine, the saliva test could pave the way to test more students, health-care workers, factory workers, company employees and other essential workers to help stop the spread of the virus.”
The PRC received the greenlight from the DOH after the health department’s Laboratory Expert Panel gave a positive recommendation leading to the approval of the use of saliva as an alternative specimen for RT-PCR testing among PRC laboratories.
In a letter to the PRC on January 21, 2021, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III commended the humanitarian organization “for finishing the pilot implementation in a short period of time and complying with the initial recommendations provided by the department.”
”[The] DOH commends your continued support and assistance to our country in assuring that all measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 infection are being explored and studied to keep the Filipino people safe from the threats of this infectious disease,” Duque said.
The PRC has been in talks with the DOH and the Food and Drug Administration for the approval of the saliva test for public use. The health bureau recommended the
PRC to conduct a pilot launch of 1,000 tested samples for a full review. On January 13, Gordon led the PRC saliva RT-PCR pilot-testing.
At the moment only two PRC laboratories in Metro Manila located in Port Area and in Mandaluyong City will conduct the saliva testing while PRC labs in the provinces will start by February.
Alternative
THE PRC said it explored saliva RTPCR test as an alternative because it is non-invasive and less-stringent.
And unlike the RT-PCR swab test, there is no need for a specimen collector to wear full personal protective equipment (PPE). It also uses less equipment and reagents, making it cheaper. The sample processing time is shorter compared to other tests as it runs only for three hours to four hours.
The saliva test was explored and developed into a study after PRC officials met in September last year with Diana Roana, a Filipino scientist working at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
The study received approval from the University of the Philippines (Manila) Research Ethics Board (UP REB) for Ethics Review Board Clearance and Approval. Afterwards, the PRC undertook a soft launch of the saliva testing at the PRC Logistics and Multi-purpose Center in Mandaluyong and tested 44 people.
A saliva-testing site was also established in Palacio de Manila in Malate, Manila, which accommodated almost 200 tests every day, on mostly overseas Filipino workers (OFWS).
With the recent approval of the saliva test, the PRC said it could collect samples from different schools, companies and other collection sites for faster testing.