By Felipe V. Celino
ROXAS CITY, Capiz – The Roxas City government is preparing more isolation or quarantine facilities as the city’s RT-PRC laboratory center is now open for operation.
Mayor Ronnie Dadivas said the city is expecting that more COVID-19 cases will be detected because of the new laboratory center.
The mayor said that they already tapped the Congressman Ramon A. Arnaldo High School (CRAAHS) in Brgy. Banica here and the Philippine School for Crafstmen (PSC) in Brgy. Lanot here as additional isolation facilities because the Hortus Botanicus facilities in Brgy. Milibili is not enough.
The Sanggunian Panlungsod of Roxas has already authorized Dadivas to enter into a memorandum of agreement with the National Housing Authority (NHA) to use the more than 300 housing units in Brgy. Tanza here as temporary isolation facilities.
The Roxas City government opened its own COVID-19 testing laboratory at the Hortus Botanicus here on Tuesday.
The Roxas City Diagnostic and Laboratory Center is the first molecular laboratory in the province of Capiz, 10th in the whole Western Visayas, and the 112th in the country.
According to Dadivas, the facility is their strong and concrete response to the pandemic – the city’s fighting chance against COVID-19.
“Having our own testing center is the next best thing to a vaccine because this will facilitate a more efficient testing, contact tracing, and prevention of the spread of infection,” Dadivas emphasized.
Dadivas said the testing is free for qualified and eligible persons, especially those exposed to COVID-19 positive, residents.
Those who will get tested for employment or tourists will have to pay.
As approved by the city council, the testing fee is PHP4,000 taking into account the expenses to be incurred in running the laboratory.
The laboratory will operate from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. and will initially handle 100 specimens a day but it looks forward to doubling the capacity.
Dadivas said the laboratory will also cater to nearby municipalities and not just Roxas City.
In his message during the program, the mayor said the laboratory “is added ammunition in flattening the curve.”
“We cannot control how this pandemic will progress or when it will end, but we can do everything that we can to cushion and lessen its impact on our people, our economy, and our city,” Dadivas stressed.
