WHO’s 13% gauge targeted

According to the WHO, we have to test 13 percent of the population so we can determine the disease’s positivity rate

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) is stepping up efforts to open testing centers in the country to meet the standard of the

World Health Organization (WHO) to test 13 percent of the population to determine the extent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection.

PRC said bio-molecular laboratories that opened in Subic and Clark recently will boost the local testing capacity.

So we really have to ramp up testing to ensure victory over COVID.

Aside from the facilities in Subic and Clark, the PRC is opening up eight other testing centers in Batangas, Laguna, Mandaue City, Isabela, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga City, Bacolod City and Surigao. It will also add 10 more PCR machines in the Port Area molecular lab, which will enable the Red Cross to conduct a total of 46,000 tests per day.

Pledge RC143 Blood calls for partnership with various organizations and the military for provision of at least 44 blood donors every day.

“According to the WHO, we have to test 13 percent of the population so we can determine the disease’s positivity rate,” PRC chairman Richard Gordon said.

He added for Metro Manila, alone, the WHO requirement would mean the testing of 1.7-million residents and it would take ten months or 308 days to test 13 percent of its population at 46,000 tests a day.

“So we really have to ramp up testing to ensure victory over COVID,” he said.

Tests expand this week

Gordon said the two new laboratories will open this week after passing the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine’s proficiency test last Friday and was accredited as certified COVID-19 testing centers.

The Subic laboratory is located at the PRC Logistics and Training Center inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and the swabbing will be done at facility’s main gate with a capacity of up to 2,000 tests a day. Meanwhile, the Clark laboratory, located at Clark Freeport Zone, is also capable of running the same number of tests.

“This is a very welcome development. We can do a total of 4,000 tests per day in the two new facilities, which will enable us to run an over-all total of 16,000 tests a day. And with the hotel capabilities of both Subic and Clark, repatriation flights for overseas Filipino workers can now be directed to the airports in the two cities,” the PRC chairman said.

Three of PRC’s COVID testing centers, two in its national headquarter along EDSA and one in its former headquarters in Port Area, Manila, are already up and running. All equipped with four polymerase reaction chain machines each, the three facilities are capable of running 4,000 tests each per day.

Donor’s day

Noting the possibility of insufficient blood supply in the country due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis, the PRC also launched a donation program that coincided with the World Blood Donor’s Day.

Gordon said “Pledge RC143 Blood” calls for partnership with various organizations and the military for provision of at least 44 blood donors every day.

Gordon disclosed that the program intends to maintain a steady blood supply at PRC’s blood bank.

“It is the duty of every Filipino to share his precious blood and help his fellowmen who are in need of it, with or without a pandemic. We are reaching out to more companies and government agencies to partner with PRC to ensure steady supply of blood all year round. We are preventing the shortage of blood so we have to move now and collect blood on an institutional basis, every day,” Gordon stated.

For Metro Manila, alone, the WHO requirement would mean the testing of 1.7-million residents.

He added that employees of state pension fund Social Security System were the first to commit to the program through its President Aurora Cruz Ignacio.

“Thank you President Aurora Baby Ignacio. It only took one phone call to @PHLSSS President Aurora Ignacio for her to agree to a blood donation in their office today,” Gordon wrote in a social media post.

Every blood donor of Pledge RC143 Blood will be given with ID Cards for Volunteers (Blood), the senator said.

The ID card will possess the donor’s name, date of birth, blood type, mobile number and e-mail address.

Maverick solon Eva Estrada Kalaw set the high standard for a member of the Senate with her independent position on many issues.

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES

PHOTOGRAPH BY RIO LEONELLE I. DELUVIO FOR THE DAILY TRIBUNE @tribunephl_rio Things to come As most parts of the country transition to a lower quarantine health standard, places of worship slowly opens but on a limited scale.