Need to get a COVID-19 test? If you’re not a fan of swab tests, you can opt to take a saliva test by heading out to the specimen collection sites that the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has set up at major malls in Metro Manila.
Yesterday, the organization announced that it has signed a memorandum of agreement with SM Supermalls to establish specimen collection areas at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong and SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
According to PRC Bio-Molecular Laboratories chief Paulyn Ubial, specimen collection will be conducted in the parking lot and people will be asked to remain in their cars. Sample collectors will be distributing test kits and collecting the tubes once the saliva is in the vial.
People who wish to undergo saliva testing will also need to undergo a 30-minute fasting period. “Thirty minutes before the test, nothing should be put inside the mouth,” Ubial stressed. “You cannot even brush your teeth or smoke a cigarette. You cannot even put on lipstick because it can contaminate the samples.”
Before heading out to the saliva collection areas, which are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., you’ll need to book an appointment and pay online through the PRC’s booking platform. Tests are priced at P2,000.
Aside from malls, PRC chairman Sen. Richard Gordon said the organization was looking at schools and private companies next for possible use of their properties for saliva tests.
“Even if vaccines arrive, testing is still important to fight COVID-19,” Gordon added. “We are heading toward nationwide saliva RT-PCR testing to help industries and schools open in this new normal.”
PRC’s saliva testing is a “non-invasive and less stringent” alternative, taking around three to four hours to produce results. The saliva samples collected will be run through reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), the same process used for swab test samples.
[READ: Don’t like swab tests? Saliva RT-PCR tests are now available via Red Cross]The agency is currently working on the nationwide rollout of these tests through its laboratories outside Metro Manila. PRC is also looking to make saliva testing available in all of its molecular laboratories, but is waiting for the Department of Health to allow saliva tests for public use.