MANILA – The Department of Health clarified that the COVID-19 test kits that it earlier said were “inaccurate” were proposed to be donated by a private foundation and not donated by the Chinese government.
The DOH on Sunday said some of the test kits, which it said were just 40 percent accurate upon the checking by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), were donated by a private foundation.
The test kits donated by the Chinese government meanwhile have been assessed and were deemed ‘at par’ with international health standards.
“The DOH apologizes for any confusion that previously issued statements have caused,” the DOH said. “The test kits mentioned during a press briefing referred to another brand that was proposed to be donated by a private foundation.”
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual press conference on Saturday night that the first COVID-19 test kits donated by China were 40 percent accurate and were instead kept by the DOH.
The Chinese Embassy, in response on Sunday morning, has denied that the inaccurate testing kits were donated by China as it wants to seek immediate clarification with the DOH.
They added that the test kits donated by China are of high quality and standards and have no accuracy problems and those were being used in Philippine test laboratories and have helped accelerate the testing process.
In a clarification by DOH on Sunday afternoon, it said that the test kits donated by China, 2000 BGI RT-PCR and 100,000 RT-PCR, were found to be “at par with the test kits provided by the World Health Organization.”
It added that Sansure test kits contain all the required reagents to run the test successfully therefore no other reagents will need to be separately procured by the Philippine government to use the test kits.
The accuracy of the Chinese test kits were put into microscope after rapid test kits from China produced inaccurate results in Spain and Czech Republic.
The Chinese kits’ error rate in those countries allegedly ranged from 70 to 80 percent and health authorities in the said countries also suggest that the PCR test remains to be the most appropriate method for detecting early-stage infection./PN
DOH…Hay naku po. Wag naman agad agad mag bigay ng press com everytime u hear or learned about something significant. Clarify,verify,double check..etc.. DOH kayo, no business in sensationalism…marami na tayong media para dyan. We asked for perfection when it comes to ur news update….no bs pls.