ILOILO City – Not just anti-coronavirus jabs. This city is also running out of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test kits.
The city government has thus requested the national government for additional RT-PCR test kits to manage the COVID-19 surge here.
“Only through massive testing can we identify and effectively isolate those who have been infected,” said Mayor Jerry Treñas.
“Given the rapid mutation of the virus and emergence of new variants, the city government is resolute in maintaining aggressive community testing to ensure an immediate and efficient implementation of containment strategies in deterrence of the rapid surge in cases in the locality,” he added.
Treñas wrote a letter of request to Department of Health (DOH) secretary Francisco Duque III with attention to Dr. Nestor Santiago Jr., DOH assistant secretary of Health Public Health Services Team; Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19; and NTF deputy chief implementer Secretary Vivencio Dizon.
“Gahulam na ‘ta sa iban nga labs. Ang gin-procure ta wala pa ka abot,” Treñas told Panay News.
The limited number of remaining test kits is one of the reasons why, recently, asymptomatic close contacts are no longer subjected to RT-PCR testing.
Instead, they are required to undergo a 14-day strict quarantine, which is also in compliance with the guidelines of the DOH.
Treñas, however, said the city will continue to test symptomatic close contacts.
As of June 14, the city is assisting 436 Ilonggos in various quarantine facilities.
“We will open more facilities as the beds are getting fuller. We are asking everyone to be safe as the cases continue to go up,” Treñas added.
To note, due to the rising cases wherein more than 100 daily positives were recorded for the past three weeks, the Molecular Laboratory has been aggressively mass testing those who have been tagged as close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Also, many of those who experience signs and symptoms have been subjected to swabbing.
The high number of individuals being tested has resulted in the depletion of laboratory consumables.
“We test more than 500 a day. We only have 1,600 test kits left. We have even resorted to borrowing some from neighboring provinces because the upkeep for people required to be tested demands so. Anent to this, we fervently plead for the immediate provision of 50,000 RT-PCR test kits and other consumables necessary to proceed without entailing delay on our massive testing,” Treñas stated.
The city mayor added in his letter that the apparent shortage of our RT-PCR test kits has caused the Iloilo City COVID team to implement as a temporary measure the mandatory quarantine for 14 days of those tagged as close contacts and to conduct testing only once symptoms have been manifested.
Testing can immediately assess the source of infection to slow down the spread. (With a report from Iloilo City PIO/PN)
