Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 4) — Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire is calling on local government and health officials to conduct active case finding anew as she observed a drop in testing output in the past week.
“Ang kailangan po nating ma-engganyo uli – ang ating mga local governments at saka ang ating mga epidemiology and surveillance units na…magkaroon tayo ulit ng active case finding, mahanap uli ‘yung mga taong may sintomas o di kaya nagiging exposed sa mga may sakit para ma-i-pa-test sila at tumaas pa uli ang ating laboratory outputs,” she said in a government briefing.
[Translation: We need to encourage our local governments and epidemiology and surveillance units to conduct active case finding again, find those with symptoms, and people exposed to infected individuals so they can be tested and the laboratory outputs can increase anew.]
Vergeire also underscored the role of testing in detecting the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The government has suspended flights – except those carrying Filipino repatriates – from countries that reported Omicron cases as a preemptive measure against the variant of concern.
