Health Secretary Francisco Duque later said The Medical City also received its certification.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 7) — The Medical City in Pasig City, St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City and Bicol Public Health Laboratory in Legazpi City, Albay have joined the list of facilities nationwide that could conduct COVID-19 tests independently, the Department of Health announced Monday.
This brings to 11 the total number of subnational laboratories capable of testing patients with the fast-spreading disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus or SARS-CoV 2.
St. Luke’s is the first private hospital to get COVID-19 testing accreditation from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City, the national reference laboratory for infectious diseases.
The RITM earlier served as the only confirmatory testing laboratory for COVID-19 in the Philippines, conducting tests on 300 nasal and throat swabs a day. Now it could process 900 tests daily.
The rest of the laboratories that are able to run tests on samples are the following:
– Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City (240 tests a day)
– Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center in Benguet (150 tests a day)
– San Lazaro Hospital in Manila City (60-100 tests a day)
– Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City (100 tests a day)
– Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City (100 tests a day)
– University of the Philippines’ National Institutes of Health in Manila (80 tests a day)
– Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City (80 tests a day)
More than 60 laboratories are still awaiting to be accredited by the RITM, according to the DOH.
Meanwhile, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Spokesperson Karlo Nograles stressed Tuesday that the country needs more testing centers, which could collectively process 13,000 to 20,000 tests by April 27.
SARS-CoV 2 tests are mainly reserved for elderly people, women with high-risk pregnancy, patients with severe illness, and healthcare workers. The government said it will test individuals suspected with COVID-19, with or without symptoms starting next week.
President Rodrigo Duterte approved the recommendation of the IATF to extend the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine until 11:59 p.m. of April 30, Nograles said.
