Roque says he was wrong to refer to NCR as an 'experiment' in COVID-19 response

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday explained his statement that Metro Manila would be a “living experiment” in the government’s COVID-19 response.

Roque said he was referring to the government’s plan to implement pooled testing in Metro Manila, which aims to conduct one laboratory test on samples taken from several people to detect the virus that causes COVID-19.

“Ang isang test kit ay gagamitin natin sa sampung tao at kung lahat po sila ay negatibo, lahat po sila negatibo, pero kung naging positibo, hahanapin po natin kung sinong positibo. Sa pamamagitan po kasi ng pooled testing, mamu-multiply natin by 10 iyong ating actual testing capacity,” Roque said.

Roque admitted that he should not have used the word “experiment” to refer to pooled testing.

“Hindi naman po siya talaga completely experiment, siguro po ang tamang salita diyan ay ‘pilot’ at saka ‘modeling,’” Roque said.

“Siguro po hindi nga tama iyong word na ‘experiment’ pero hindi pa kasi natin nagagawa itong pooled testing sa Pilipinas.”

Testing czar Vince Dizon said the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and the private sector are conducting a pilot run of pooled testing.

“Kapag ito ay na-validate na ng RITM at ng DOH [Department of Health] ay puwede na nating gamitin ito at talagang napakalaking tulong po nito sa dami ng ating mai-test at sa pagbaba ng cost ng testing,” Dizon said.

Roque, meanwhile, reiterated that he would not preempt President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision regarding the capital region's quarantine status after July 31.

“Pero gaya ng sinabi ko, it will not be business as usual,” Roque said when asked about the possibility that Metro Manila will return to modified enhanced community quarantine after the COVID-19 cases in the country soared past 85,000 on Wednesday.

“We will allow local governments to play a bigger role. We will also ask the private sector also to play a bigger role, and we ask the individual to observe minimum health standards as a barest minimum."

Metro Manila has been under general community quarantine since June 1.