Govt adviser: Testing individuals without COVID-19 exposure, symptoms won't maximize testing capacity

Government adviser and infectious disease expert Dr. Edsel Salvaña said Monday that there is no need to test individuals for COVID-19 if they have no exposure or do not have symptoms since it will yield low positive results.

Salvaña was responding to the suggestion of former government adviser Dr. Tony Leachon that the number of COVID-19 tests conducted in the country should reach 100,000 per day to be able to nip transmission in the bud.

“In terms of the total capacity, we are at 70,000 tests per day. If there is surge capacity po talaga for testing, we can do 100,000 a day. But the question is, what is the demand for testing? We are testing those who have symptoms and those who have been exposed to a person infected with COVID-19,” Salvaña said during the Laging Handa briefing.

“We do not test those without exposure, without symptoms, because it will yield low [positive results]. And even if you do that, there is a chance that it turns out to be false negative. You can have COVID-19 and still test negative in RT-PCR test. So the judicious use of our testing is important,” he added.

He then said that while the country reached around 27% positivity rate last September 5, it has since decreased to 13.8% as of October 16 and as such, ramping up the number of tests conducted in a day is not necessary.

“The tests are not perfect, so if we do not use them efficiently and use them on low risk people, the chance of getting false positive is high,” he said.

“If the tests are not enough and yet the positivity rate is going up, then we can say testing is not enough. But if there are less tests done in a day alongside decreased positivity rate, then the number of people getting COVID-19 is also decreasing,” he added.—AOL, GMA News