Red Cross opens Cebu lab

To address the sudden surge of COVID-19 cases in Cebu, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) opened on Thursday its COVID-19 laboratory here.

PRC chairman, Senator Richard Gordon, said the molecular testing laboratory was put up at the PRC-Mandaue office, Jagobiao Drive, Mandaue City, Cebu (former energizer plant).

The lab is equipped with four RT-polymerase chain reactions machines, capable of running up to 4,000 specimen samples per day.

This increased the private humanitarian group’s daily COVID-19 testing capacity to 36,000 per day.

“I have long been saying that testing is the key. To contain the virus, we need to test. We are dealing with an unseen enemy and it is only through testing that we can unmask it,” Gordon said.

He asserted that if masses of people will be tested, carriers will be isolated faster from their families and communities to prevent others getting infected.

“If we will be able to control the contagion, Cebu establishments can already resume operations. Workers can also return to their jobs if they get tested as well as the tourists,” the senator added.

Tourists will not fear traveling to Cebu, which is considered one of the top tourist destinations in the Philippines, as they are assured that residents in the area are free from the coronavirus infection, Gordon averred.

“This is why you need to get tested. Testing will help you get back on your feet,” he said.

Likewise, the lawmaker appealed to the local government officials in Cebu to urge their constituents into getting tested.

Gordon said barangay officials should be the ones to promptly report COVID-19 cases in their area, so the patients will be isolated and cured at once. They must also lead the contact tracing, he added. “Testing should be focused on barangays with a high number of COVID-19 cases in order to end the disease transmission. If one household member gets positive, the person should be separated immediately from one’s family members. We need to take care of the patient’s family, especially if the patient is the breadwinner,” said Gordon.

He suggested that they should also be provided with basic necessities so they don’t have to come out from their homes, noting the possibility that they might have become carriers too.