Duque: No country has conducted COVID-19 testing for entire population

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Thursday said no country in the world has ever done COVID-19 for its entire population, but rather only a portion of it.

Duque made the remark amid incessant calls from the public for the Philippine government to already implement mass testing to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

"I do not recall that mass testing was ever done. I think the mass testing, the word 'mass' is generic. I understand that even rt-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) can be used under that terminology of mass testing as well as the rapid antibody testing kits," Duque said during the virtual meeting of the House Committee on Health.

"What I know is that there is no such a thing, as of now, worldwide of a one-is-to-one testing. It’s really a percentage, some would say 1 percent, 2 percent of the population ought to be tested and perhaps even higher for areas which are epicenters of an outbreak," he added.

Health Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire on Tuesday said that instead of "mass" testing, the Philippines is implementing an "expanded" COVID-19 testing, which initially covered vulnerable and severe cases of the disease but has since been extended to those with mild symptoms.

Asymptomatic cases are also currently being tested, Vergeire added, but only those who had exposure to COVID-19 patients.

Vergeire said that with limited resources, the government’s efforts should be focused.

“We are trying to veer away from this term of mass testing because when you say mass testing, it is indiscriminate testing, which is not the case [for us],” she said.

Duque said that the target of the DOH is to have 30,000 tests daily by the end of May or on early June.

This, he said, represents about 50% of suspected and probable cases of COVID-19.

Gabriela Women's Party Representative Arlene Brosas earlier in the day reiterated the call for the country to have mass testing, pointing out that they are not pushing for all 109 million Filipinos undergo testing.

"Kailan kaya yung first wave ng mass testing na matagal nang ipinapanawagan ng mamamayan?" she said.

"Simple lang naman ang sinasabi natin sa mass testing: Gamitin ang kapangyarihan at napakalaking pondo na hawak ng gobyerno to test all suspected and probable cases of COVID-19 and implement surveillance testing in highly-infected areas especially now that companies and other private enterprises are now allowed to resume operation," she said.

As of May 21, a total of 13,434 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the Philippines, with 3,000 recoveries and 846 deaths. — RSJ, GMA News