By Daniel Manalastas
The Rapid antigen test will now be counted as a confirmatory test in the National Capital Region Plus Bubble, the Department of Health announced Tuesday.
During the hearing of the House Committee on Health, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the antigen test will be officially recorded for the period when COVID-19 cases continue to spike.
It is in contrast with the previous policy that only the RT-PCR test will be counted in the official COVID-19 positive cases tally.
“The rapid antigen test will be officially recorded for this period that we have this increase in the number of cases…it’s going to be used as part of our outbreak response,” USec. Vergeire explained.
According to the health official, the said move is based on the guidelines of DOH and the World Health Organization which provides that during incidents of increase or outbreaks, the antigen test could be used as confirmatory means.
“In our guidelines, and based from WHO recommendations, when there are areas with increased incidents or there are outbreaks like what we are having right now, you can use the antigen test as confirmatory already,” USec. Vergeire added.
Over the past week, COVID-19 cases in the country spiked with the highest daily record reaching nearly 10,000 on Friday.
