Pooled testing to start soon

THE GOVERNMENT will soon start pooled coronavirus testing as local physicians complete their evaluation of the method, according to the Department of Health (DoH).

Other countries have allowed pooled testing for COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) to expand checks for the coronavirus and use fewer testing resources.

“We are still finalizing the evaluation of this pooled testing because it has to go through the evaluation by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and Philippine Society of Pathologists,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire told an online news briefing on Wednesday.

The doctors presented their initial results on Monday, she said, adding that pooled testing would start as soon as they finish the evaluation.

Ms. Vergeire said pooled testing would benefit the country as the government enforces expanded testing protocols. In pooled testing, specimens from several people are pooled in a single polymerase chain reaction or PCR test. There is no need to test people belonging to the pool if the result is negative.

If a pooled test is positive, people whose specimens came from the pool will be tested individually.

Ms. Vergeire said there are situations where pooled testing is more effective, such as in non-hotspot areas. On the other hand, the method is ineffective in areas where there is a big number of COVID-19 patients.

She said Makati City has a pooled-testing project with Project Ark that will start as soon as the evaluation is finished. Other local governments were interested in the method, she added.