Testing 1, 2, 3…

(Part of an ongoing account started on March 13, 2020 of how the spread of COVID-19 in our country and our government’s response has affected our lives.)

As of 4 p.m. today, the Philippines reports 538 new cases of confirmed corona virus cases –so far the highest jump in a day. There are now 2,084 confirmed corona virus cases in the country, including 49 recoveries and 88 deaths.

Days before this, Department of Health (DoH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire had prepared us for an “artificial rise” in the number of cases as the department improved its testing capacity and reduced its backlog with the addition of more testing laboratories and the arrival of testing kits from other countries.

Since the outbreak began, only the DoH’s Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa has been testing samples of COVID-19. This function was extended on March 19, 2020 to five subnational laboratories that were cleared as testing centers by the World Health Organization (WHO).

These are the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center in Baguio City; San Lazaro Hospital in Manila City; University of the Philippines National Institutes of Health, Manila; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City; and Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City.

Also, some 168,000 test kits have arrived in the Philippines:  a donation of 100,000 from China and 43,000 from Singapore, and an importation of 25,000 from South Korea.

The Philippines can now run 1,000 tests per day from the previous daily average of 300, said Health Secretary Francisco Duque last March 30.

Today, National Task Force (NTF) COVID-19 chief implementer, Peace Process Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. says there are plans to carry out “massive testing” of persons under monitoring (PUM) and persons under investigation (PUI) for COVID-19, as well as health workers on the front lines of battling the pandemic.

Widespread testing is crucial in the fight against the pandemic as it allows health authorities to isolate and treat infected people.

However, the country is only just now gaining traction in terms of equipping itself to fight the disease on the medical front. Aside from increasing testing centers and acquiring more test kits, our health authorities also need qualified testing personnel.

This is just about testing. There’s a host of other problems regarding treatment that range from overflowing hospitals, lack of hospital equipment, lack of personal protective gear for health frontliners, etc.

So, testing…1, 2, 3.  We’ve just stepped up to the mike. We aren’t singing yet.