Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 18) — Thousands of COVID-19 test kits that require a shorter processing time will be arriving in the country next week, the Department of Health said on Saturday.
The 3,000 kits, however, will still have to be validated first before they are sent to testing laboratories. The kits will be used on GeneXpert machines, which are usually used to diagnose tuberculosis.
Health spokesperson Ma. Rosario Vergeire said the validation process will take another two to three days.
“Sa susunod na linggo pa ho dadating ang GeneXpert kits natin na tatlong libo. Ngunit hindi ito agad-agad ipagkakaloob sa ating mga certified laboratories dahil isasailalim pa ito sa validation,” said Vergeire during the DOH daily online briefing.
[Translation: The 3,000 kits from GeneXpert will arrive next week but they will not be sent to our certified laboratories immediately because they have to undergo validation.]
She explained that the agency needs to check all procured or donated kits if they are compatible with the country’s testing process and if they fit DOH standards.
The Food and Drug Administration said these were the same SARS-CoV-2 kits from GeneXpert it had approved last month.
The machines used to process the kits can show results in just 45 minutes, while the current reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machines take about 24 to 72 hours, according to the DOH.
“Dahil automated ang GeneXpert machine, mas mabilis ang turn-around time nito o ang oras na kailangan upang makakuha tayo ng resulta matapos maproseso ang test,” said Vergeire.
[Translation: Because the GeneXpert machine is automated, the turn-around time, or the time it takes to get results after processing, is shorter.]
The machines can also test more samples at a time, the spokesperson added.
According to the FDA, the GeneXpert test kits are PCR-based, meaning it can detect the novel coronavirus in the body. This is different from the rapid antibody tests that the DOH warned could produce false-negative results. The DOH has maintained that PCR tests are the gold standard for confirming if a patient has COVID-19.
