THE Provincial Government and Philippine Red Cross (PRC) collaborated to conduct testing of probable cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Tarlac starting Monday, April 27.
Under the Memorandum of Agreement inked by Governor Susan Yap and PRC secretary-general and Senator Richard Gordon, specimens will be submitted to the PRC’s testing center located at their main office in Mandaluyong.
Then, PRC will send back the result of swab tests, which will be available in 48-120 hours, to the Tarlac capitol.
About P5 million was deposited for the swab testing of around 1,428 Tarlaqueños for a single test which costs P3,500.
In a statement, Yap underscored the need for mass testing to effectively mitigate the spread of Covid-19.
“We will strictly comply with the requirements of the Data Privacy Act of 2012 to protect our people who will be tested positive,” Yap said.
First priority for the provincial testing include health workers of the government and private hospitals (220 test kits); health workers in the community with positive cases (140 test kits); barangay health workers in the community with positive cases (84 test kits) and expatriates and overseas Filipinos workers (31 test kits).
Also included are Provincial Health Office personnel, Philippine National Police swabbers and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council personnel (50 kits) and cluster survey (175 test kits).
Meanwhile, the second priority will be contacts of positive cases in the first priority; suspects with flu-like symptoms in the community; immediate contacts like families of positive cases; and PNP personnel at the frontlines. (PIA-Central Luzon)