The Department of Health (DOH) will amend the guidelines on the use of rapid antigen test in detecting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
According to DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the use of the antigen test for border screening is not advisable.
“They are recommending not to use it [in] border screening so titingnan natin, (we will see) because there are also other evidences na pino-point out naman na maaari namang gawin, (that point out that it can be done) but there are specific conditions.”
The DOH has initially recommended the said screening to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID). It has reconsidered as the COVID-19 situation is “evolving” and “dynamic” and adheres to the WHO’s directives.
DOH is set to issue the omnibus guidelines for the COVID-19 testing procedure once it has given a new recommendation to the IATF-EID. – Report from Mark Fetalco
