DoH expands Covid testing protocols
PERSONNEL manning quarantine facilities, barangay (village) health workers and pregnant women will be among those who will be tested for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) after the Department of Health (DoH) expanded its testing protocols.
“With the invaluable support from our partners, the hardworking DoH family, and the active participation of all our laboratories, we have significantly increased our testing capacity. We have thus updated our guidelines to be attuned to the needs of all those needing to be tested,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd said in a statement.
The DoH classified the priority of testing into different subgroups based on the severity of the disease and if they have relevant travel history or contact with another Covid-19 positive case.
These are:
Subgroup A: Patients and healthcare workers with severe and critical symptoms with relevant travel history or close contact with another Covid-19 patient;
– Subgroup B: Vulnerable patients and health workers with mild symptoms, such as the elderly and with pre- existing conditions;
– Subgroup C: Those with mild symptoms and are not vulnerable;
Subgroup D: Those without symptoms;
– Subgroup E: Frontliners “indirectly involved in healthcare provision in the response against Covid-19” and personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Corrections, those manning Covid-19 swabbing centers and social workers providing relief assistance and amelioration; and
– Subgroup F: Patients who will undergo high- risk, elective surgical procedures like pregnant women, dialysis patients and or will undergo chemotherapy or radiotherapy; and immune-compromised patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Also in Subgroup F are individuals living in confined spaces like persons deprived of liberty.
Under Department Memorandum 2020-0258, the DoH included personnel manning temporary quarantine facilities and quarantine control points, national/ regional/local risk reduction and management teams, and barangay health emergency response teams and officials providing border control under Subgroup E.
“Itopongmganasa subgroup E, alamnamanponatinnamas madalassahindisilapoaynakakasalamuha probable, suspects at confirmed case. Kayapoaysinasamaponatin silasa expanded testing guidelines paraposilaaymabigyan ngkaukulang test (Those in this subgroup always join our probable, suspected and confirmed cases. That is why we added them in the expanded testing guidelines so that they would be tested), ” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, concurrent spokesman, said in a press briefing.
But Vergeire clarified that not all people in these subgroups would be tested using the reverse transmission– polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR.
“Mayroonparinpotayong requirements nakahitkasamaka sa subgroup aykailanganmayroon close contact sa probable or kumpirmadongkaso ng Covid-19 bagokasumailalim sa testing (We still have requirements that even if you are in that subgroup, you should still have a close contact to a probable or confirmed Covid-19 case before being tested),” Vergeire said.