Malacañang assured the public that President Duterte will support the conduct of mass testing for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) once the Philippines becomes ready for it.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo made the statement amid public call for the conduct of nationwide mass testing to allow the government to undertake proper steps to combat the deadly disease.
In a radio interview, Panelo said President Duterte will surely support the conduct of mass testing once the Philippines becomes fully equipped to test the public.
“Ang lahat ng iyan ay susuportahan ni Presidente kung nandiyan na iyong lahat ng kasangkapan. Kasi kung wala naman eh papaano natin maipapatupad iyon” he told DZRH.
The Department of Health (DoH) has thumbed down the proposal to hold mass testing because of the country’s limited resources.
“While we already have 100,000 testing kits, we expect more to arrive, these are not enough to conduct mass testing,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual presser last week.
“For now, mass testing is not on in our consideration because we lack capacity. Even if we have testing kits but we do not have laboratories, we cannot do it. So we are completing the establishment of extension laboratories nationwide,” she added.
“Once we stabilize all our laboratories, we can decide if we can do mass testing or not,” she continued.
In his radio interview, Panelo explained that the lack of resources is the reason why the government, for now, is establishing test centers across the country.
“Kailangan malaman talaga natin iyong walang sakit at hindi exposed at hindi infected para ma-isolate na natin sila,” he said.
Earlier, the DoH said those who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to go to government hospitals.
On Saturday, the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the Philippines breached the 1,000-mark as the DoH recorded an additional 272 cases, bringing the total to 1,075.
A total of 2,686 tests for COVID-19 was conducted in the country as of Saturday afternoon based on DoH’s tracker. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)