Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 7) — Around 24,500 people have been tested for coronavirus infection, but more tests should be done to get a “clearer picture” of the COVID-19 crisis in the country, a Cabinet official said Tuesday.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told CNN Philippines’ News Night that around 29,000 tests were conducted. He explained that a person goes through an average of two to three tests to confirm a possible infection.
“It’s not enough. The daily testing load is about 2,000/2,500 and we need to scale this up to about 8-10,000 per day and that will now allow us to have more robust data to really have a clearer picture of the COVID situation in the Philippines,” Duque said.
He said authorities, particularly the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, will use the data to decide on whether to lift the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine or further extend it beyond April 30.
“Unless we are able to test about 8,000-10,000 a day, it will be difficult to say anything that’s premature so let’s take it one step at a time,” Duque said.
The inter-agency task force announced an even bigger target: 20,000 tests per day by April 27.
Aside from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, nine other facilities can now conduct COVID-19 tests independently.
READ: PH now has 10 accredited labs to conduct COVID-19 testing
The number of COVID-19 cases nationwide has risen to 3,764. This means more than 80 percent of the 24,500 people tested for COVID-19 were negative for the viral disease.
A total of 177 patients succumbed to the virus, while 84 got well.
President Rodrigo Duterte has placed Luzon under enhanced community quarantine since March 17 to contain the spread of the virus.
When asked if the President should have imposed the stay-at-home order earlier, Duque said, “I don’t think so because we were actually governed by the available data.”
“Science and evidence” will also be the government’s guide in deciding when to lift the Luzon-wide lockdown, he added.
