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DOH sees results of pool testing's pilot run next week


The results of the pilot run of pool testing for COVID-19 or using one COVID-19 testing kit for samples from different individuals will be out next week, Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said Friday.

“Nasa Phase 2 po [itong pilot run ng pool testing]. Ine-evaluate po if it is appropriate [to use]. Hindi rin po kasi puwede basta-basta itong gamitin kasi baka magkaroon tayo ng inaccurate results,” Vergeire said in an Unang Hirit interview.

“Ini-evaluate po ito ng RITM (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine) at ng Philippine Society of Pathology. Hopefully, next week, may resulta na para malaman natin kung puwede ng ma-implement ang pool testing strategy.”

Based on Department of Health records, the number COVID-19 testing done per day has been going down since July 31.

From over 33,000 COVID-19 tests done on July 30, it only reached 31,000 on July 31; 29,000 on August 1; and down to 22,000 on August 2.

It went to 29,000 on August 3, but this has since been reduced to a little over 23,000 both on August 4 and 5.

Likewise, not all of the at least 90 laboratories in the country are able to report COVID-19 results on a daily basis.

On August 5 alone, only 89 out of the 98 laboratories submitted report on COVID-19 test results. On August 1, 74 out of 94 laboratories reported results.

This was not a far cry from the 70, 66 and 80 out of 94  laboratories which reported results from August 2 to 4.

The Philippines already registered the most number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia with 119,460. Of this number, 66,837 recovered while 2,150 died. —KBK, GMA News

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