In an effort to achieve its goal of 30,000 tests by the end of May, the National Task Force Against COVID-19 has just opened the first of its four mega swabbing centers in the country. Located along Roxas Boulevard at the events venue Palacio de Maynila, this facility will service the west sector of Metro Manila and can process 1,000 tests per day.
It has 65 specimen collection booths manned by medical technologists from the Philippine Coast Guard and is scheduled to open tomorrow, May 6.
Prior to this, the facility has been inspected by the Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, National Task Force Deputy Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr., Philippine Coast Guard commandant admiral Joel Garcia and Bases Conversion and Development Authority president and “Test, Trace and Treat” (T3) program chief Vivencio Dizon.
Other mega swabbing centers are set to open within the week to service other parts of Luzon. These include three others at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bulacan, Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay and Enderun Tent McKinley Hill in Taguig.
These centers will prioritize the 25,000 overseas Filipino workers and seafarers currently staying in quarantine facilities in Metro Manila and Greater Metro Manila Area, said Dizon.
All four facilities have a combined testing capacity of 5,000 tests per day, which will then be sent to the Philippine Red Cross laboratory in Mandaluyong which is capable of processing 8,000 tests per day. According to Dizon, the turn-around time for tests is 24 hours up to 72 hours depending on the volume.
As of writing, the country has recorded almost 9,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 1,315 recoveries and 623 deaths.
Photos courtesy of Department of National Defense and Philippine News Agency
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Writer: CHRISTIAN SAN JOSE
