MANILA, Philippines – Governments around the world have responded in various ways to contain the coronavirus outbreak, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared as a pandemic.
In the Philippines, besides a month-long Luzon-wide lockdown or "enhanced community quarantine," the government is also stepping up its efforts to test suspected cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
To date, all laboratory tests on the coronavirus are conducted at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City.
RITM is the country's national reference laboratory for infectious and tropical diseases. It is under the Department of Health (DOH). So far, it is the only lab in the country accredited by the WHO to test coronavirus samples.
A person who exhibits virus symptoms or has a travel or exposure history in relation to the virus may proceed to any hospital to be admitted to designated isolation areas, where samples will be taken and brought to the testing center. (READ: When you need to get tested for coronavirus – or not)
The DOH explained that persons under investigation or PUIs will be tested only if they are experiencing severe manifestations of the symptoms. However, elderly people who exhibit symptoms, whether mild or severe, as well as persons with underlying medical conditions will automatically get tested for possible infection.
Before RITM was accredited, samples from the Philippines were sent to the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory in Melbourne, Australia.
Coming soon
RITM is preparing its 5 subnational laboratories to screen for COVID-19. The DOH hopes these facilities get accredited in a month or two, said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on March 4:
- San Lazaro Hospital, Manila
- Lung Center of the Philippines, Quezon City
- Baguio General Hospital, Baguio City
- Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Cebu City
- Southern Philippines Medical Center, Davao City
The University of the Philippines National Institutes of Health (UP NIH) is also being "similarly capacitated" or prepared to handle testing, said the DOH on March 7.
Separately, Marikina City announced on March 13 that it plans to set up its own testing center to help only in early detection efforts for persons under monitoring, using test kits from a local private biotechnology firm.
Testing kits
Besides access to testing centers, the availability of testing kits is also important in diagnosing persons under investigation for the coronavirus.
Currently, RITM is running tests with primers sourced from a referral laboratory in Japan, but it has a limited supply. There is also a 24-to-48-hour processing period for the test results.
RITM has the capacity to perform 300 tests per day, said DOH Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on March 12.
On March 16, Duque announced that rapid test kits from South Korea and China have been donated to the country to allow for more tests. These test kits can turn up results within hours.
To help expand DOH's testing capacities, UP NIH scientists said they have developed a test kit for the coronavirus. Health authorities are currently validating and field-testing these kits before they could be cleared for mass use.
In the meantime, the Food and Drug Administration reminded the public to avoid buying home test kits sold online, because these have no approval from them yet.
The WHO on Tuesday, March 17, called on countries worldwide to test "every suspected case" of COVID-19.
In the Philippines, as of March 17, there are 187 positive cases of the coronavirus, with 12 deaths and 4 recoveries. Globally, the number of cases as of March 16 has risen to 168,250 across 142 countries, of which 80,860 infections are in China.
The global death toll is at 6,501, with 3,213 deaths in mainland China alone. – with reports from Mara Cepeda/Rappler.com