Philippine Red Cross to open 20 testing labs for COVID-19 nationwide—Gordon

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) will open around 20 testing laboratories for the detection of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) across the country, according to its chairman Senator Richard Gordon on Monday.

In a statement, Gordon said that a second laboratory will be opened at PRC's national headquarters along EDSA-Mandaluyong within the week.

“We’re opening up, maybe tomorrow evening, the second laboratory here, which is capable of doing 4,000 tests a day. As I speak, there are about 15 med-techs in the other building being trained to use the machines," he said.

Another one will be set up at the PRC’s former national headquarters in Port Area, Manila, he added.

In another interview on Dobol B sa News TV, Gordon said that the first laboratory that PRC opened recently already processed 1,000 tests samples from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).

"Right now, we are doing the backlog from the RITM, because many of them (RITM staff) have fallen sick," he said.

Further, four other testing centers are being constructed in Subic, Clark, Batangas and UP Los Banos.

PRC will also open laboratories in Cagayan De Oro, General Santos and Surigao in Mindanao; and Cebu, Negros Island, Panay Island, Leyte and Samar in Visayas.

"That should really be able to allow us to isolate the cases and make sure that they can be treated and recover faster. We cannot beat this unless we unmask the invisible enemy and we can only do that by testing," Gordon said.

As of April 20, the Philippines recorded a total of 6,459 cases of COVID-19, with 613 recoveries and 428 deaths.

There are currently 17 DOH-accredited testing laboratories in the Philippines and over 52,000 individuals have undergone COVID-19 tests nationwide as of April 18. —LDF, GMA News