Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 8) — The Department of Health has received ₱95.6-million in cash allocations to buy COVID-19 test kits, President Rodrigo Duterte said in his latest report to Congress on his administration’s response to the pandemic.
The cash allocations, which will be used to buy reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction detection kits, were pulled from this year’s budget, Duterte said.
RT-PCR tests, considered by health experts to be the gold standard in the testing for COVID-19, detect the actual virus that causes the disease, unlike rapid test kits which only screen for antibodies that fight against the virus.
Thinkwell Philippines’ senior policy adviser of Marife Yap previously told CNN Philippines that the lack of test kits is among the reasons behind the backlog in the country’s testing capacity. Thinkwell Philippines is a private consulting agency to the Department of Health.
The government is targeting to test 30,000 people a day, but actual tests done per day hover only at around 10,000.
