Valenzuela City eyes zero backlog in COVID-19 testing by Saturday

The city government of Valenzuela is aiming to finish their testing of probable and suspected cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by Saturday, Mayor Rex Gatchalian said on Wednesday.

Through an agreement, the local government partnered with the second laboratory, Detoxicare Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, to manage the samples from the city.

“We don’t have any more backlogs by this Saturday. All the results will come out on Monday or Tuesday,” Gatchalian said in a press conference.

The city government initially collaborated with The Medical City and secured 25 COVID-19 testing processes per day, Gatchalian said. With the partnership with Detoxicare laboratories, the local government can now have 90 more testing processes for COVID-19 daily.

According to Gatchalian, they can conduct around 700 COVID-19 tests a week starting Thursday.

The mayor pointed out that the strategic advantage of mass testing for COVID-19 is that the government will be able to allocate its resources to confirmed cases, or those who tested positive, who really need protection and care.

He argued that this strategy is more effective than implementing measures and using government resources on a population out of suspicion.

When all the 537 probable and suspected cases are already tested, Gatchalian said the mass testing will then cover health workers, uniformed and other security personnel, as well as those who are vulnerable to the infection like senior citizens and patients undergoing dialysis treatment.

As of Tuesday, Valenzuela City recorded 46 confirmed COVID-19 cases with four fatalities. --KBK, GMA News