The biggest molecular laboratory of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) that will serve as a COVID-19 testing center in Manila is now fully operational.
Senator Richard Gordon said the opening of the molecular lab will greatly help contain COVID-19 due to more tests conducted which will fast track identification of those who are positive. The testing capacity of the Philippines is currently at 0.4 percent and still far from the 13 percent standard of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The PRC laboratory in Manila where the hemodialysis center is also located was accredited by the DOH as a COVID-19 center last May 15. The PRC has already processed 18,000 tests out of 149,116 samples. The lab has a daily testing capacity of 14,000.
The molecular laboratory in Manila has seven RNAs and 14 polymerase chain reactor (PCR) machines.
“Dapat bumilis lahat ang testing natin because sobra ang capacity. Magkakaroon tayo ng 22,000 testing capacity dito sa Manila pero ang pumapasok rito ay umaabot lang ng 3,000 (Testing should become faster because there is over capacity. We will have 22,000 testing capacity in Manila, but only 3,000 get here),” Gordon said. T
The PRC also has testing centers in Mandaluyong, Pampanga, and Zambales. Around 26 percent of all tests conducted in the country are processed by the PRC. “… 1.3M ang gusto namin i-test sa Manila (We want to test 1.3M in Manila). That is 13% of the population of Manila. That is what WHO told me before. So we want to test 13%, that is 1.7M. If we have all these testing apparatus in Subic, Clark at saka Batangas and Laguna, we can finish Manila in 50 days,” Gordon said.
