By Emme Rose Santiagudo
The Department of Health-Center for Health Development Western Visayas (DOH-CHD) 6 is preparing to roll out a mass testing in Western Visayas to counter the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
DOH-CHD 6 Regional Director Dr. Marlyn Convocar said mass testing as recommended by the DOH Central Office is needed to determine community transmission of the virus in the region.
“Para ma-substantiate ang any transmission, we should be guided by more testing that is why ginarecommend ang mass testing nga ubrahon in the next few weeks,” she said in a press conference on Wednesday.
So far, the health department has confirmed local tranmissions in Guimbal and Lambunao in Iloilo province, Iloilo City, and Bacolod City.
Convocar said mass testing as defined in a meeting conducted led by Office of the Presidential Assistant for Visayas (OPAV), DOH-CHD 6 and DOH Central Visayas (Region 7) on Monday can only be applicable to cases that are “suspect cases” or those cases that are progressive and at risk for contracting Covid-19.
The health department said they have transitioned the reporting of persons under investigation (PUI) and persons under monitoring (PUM) into “suspect”, “probable”, and confirmed cases based on the classification of the Philippine Institute for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (PSMID).
PUIs are individuals who manifested signs and symptoms after exposure to a positive case and history of travel in places with confirmed cases whereas PUMs are individuals who are asymptomatic but had after exposure to a positive case and history of travel in places with confirmed cases.
Based on the new reporting guidelines, Convocar said a suspect case is a person who is presenting any of the conditions:
*all severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases where no other etiology fully explains the clinical presentation
*influenza like illnesses (ILI) cases with any one of the following such as either with no other etiology that fully explains the clinical presentation and a history of travel to or residence in an area that reported local transmission of COVID-19 disease during the 14 days prior to symptom onset; with contact to a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19 disease during the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms; individuals with fever or cough or shortness of breath or other respiratory signs or symptoms fulfilling any one of the following conditions; aged 60 years and above; with a comorbidity; assessed as having a high-risk pregnancy; and health workers.
On the other hand, a probable case is a suspect case who fulfills anyone of the following: suspect case whom testing for Covid-19 is inconclusive; suspect who underwent testing for Covid-19 but not conducted in a national or subnational reference laboratory or officially accredited laboratory for Covid-19 confirmatory testing; and suspect case for whom testing could not be performed for any reason.
Based on the above-mentioned definitions, Convocar said all suspect cases are qualified for mass testing.
“We will subject those who are qualified as a suspect case to Covid-19 testing whether they had exposure to a positive case or not,” she said.
Convocar said that they are still preparing for the conduct of the mass testing in the region as the subnational testing center will first have to be capacitated.
Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) in Mandurriao, Iloilo City is the only testing center in the region that has been accredited by the health department.
Currently it can process 120 to 200 specimens a day, according to Convocar.
“Before the mass testing will be rolled out in the region, the 11 subnational laboratories should first be capacitated to operate at most 500 specimens a day. We should capacitate ang aton laboratory kay as of now 120 to 200 a day. We are reinforcing WVCM by providing more machines and medical technologists,” she said.
In terms of testing kits, Convocar said the region is still making use of the 5,000 testing kits from the central office.
She said that the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine has 300,000 test kits in preparation for the mass testing.
In preparation for the mass testing, DOH-CHD 6 will intensify its surveillance of SARI and ILI cases in the region.
According to Convocar, they will tap the help of the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) to identify barangays with clustering of ILI cases.
“We will start with the surveillance on Monday, April 13. We will monitor barangays with clustering of ILI cases,” she said.
FREE TESTING IN ILOILO CITY
In Iloilo City, the city government will offer free Covid-19 testing to residents in the metro, Mayor Jerry Treñas announced in a press conference on Wednesday.
However, certain qualifications will be set to those who can avail of the free testing due to the limited testing kits.
Treñas added that the city government is finalizing the purchase of test kits developed by scientists from University of the Philippines (UP) wherein testing will also be free to city residents.
