Duterte asks if mass testing for all Pinoys possible; Duque says no

President Rodrigo Duterte has asked his Cabinet officials if it would be feasible to subject all Filipinos to COVID-19 testing but Health Secretary Francisco Duque III answered in the negative.

"Do we have the capacity to do the testing for every citizen in this country?" Duterte inquired in a meeting televised on Tuesday.

"Hindi naman po natin puwedeng i-test ang bawat mamamayan, wala naman pong bansa na nakakagawa nito, kahit na po ang pinakamayaman katulad ng United States of America," Duque said in response.

Duterte’s spokesperson Harry Roque also said the country cannot subject every Filipino to COVID-19 testing.

“If we can afford it, why not? But the reality is, hindi natin maa-afford ang testing sa lahat ng 110 million Filipinos. Pero gagawa po ng hakbang ang ating gobyerno para mas maparami ang testing natin,” Roque said in a televised briefing on Tuesday.

Roque maintained that the government is considering pooled testing, which is a process of grouping different samples together to maximize laboratory capacity.

“Iyan na po ang hakbang na ginagawa ng gobyerno dahil alam natin na kapag na-test at nahanap natin kung sino ang mayroong COVID-19, pupuwede na silang i-isolate nang hindi na makahawa at pararamihin din po natin ang mga isolation centers dahil nga alam natin na mas marami tayong mahahanap na mga positibong indibidwal,” he said.

“Pagkatapos gagamutin po natin at ire-reintegrate natin sa ating lipunan.”

The Department of Health (DOH) chief said the US has so far tested about 40 million or close to 9 percent of its 370 million population.

"Tayo po, malalampasan po natin iyon, magiging 10 percent po tayo. Of the total population of the Philippines of 109 million, we might be able to reach 10 million Filipinos by 2021," Duque said.

"I think 10 [million] would be a good number if you can achieve that," Duterte said as he underscored that the chances of COVID-19 transmission should be reduced to the barest minimum.

The Philippines currently has a daily testing capacity of 74,000 but the average daily output ranges from 22,000 to 23,000, according to Duque.

He added that the goal is to increase the actual output to 32,000 to 40,000 tests per day.

National Task Force COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. gave a slightly higher count of tests done per day and said reaching the goal mentioned by Duque would prevent fatalities related to the pandemic.

"Nakapagte-test na po tayo isang araw ng more or less 27,000 tests a day. Pag na-reach po natin 'yung 32,000, sinasabi po ng ating mga dalubhasa, we can save more than 4,000 to 6,000 deaths," Galvez said.

Based on the DOH data as of July 19, over a million individuals in the Philippines have undergone the COVID-19 test.

The confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country have reached 68,898 as of July 20. Of which, 23,072 recovered and 1,835 died. — RSJ/LDF, GMA News