MANILA, Philippines — As the Philippines grapples with a growing health crisis, the country’s Food and Drug Administration allowed the use of a test kit that would help the Department of Health detect more cases of the new coronavirus.
The virus that causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is spreading locally after a month of not detecting any case but the testing has so far revealed only 24 cases since late January—half of them diagnosed Monday.
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The FDA issued on Tuesday a Certificate of Exemption for the detection kit developed by the University of the Philippines National Institute of Health.
The kit will be used for field testing coupled with gene sequencing at the Philippine Genome Center.
The test kit will aid the DOH to detect rapidly the presence of the new coronavirus in samples taken from suspected carriers.
“This will provide our laboratories with technological reinforcement to accommodate the growing number of patients to
be tested and id in early screening of positive cases.
Furthermore, this will provide greater access to a less costly diagnostic procedure,” FDA Director General Enrique Domingo said.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque told Philstar.com
In a
Malacañang briefing Monday, the Health chief said the limited coverage of the coronavirus tests in the country may have led to a possible “
underreporting” of COVID-19 cases in the country.
Out of the 24 confirmed infections, two have recovered, while
21 are still treated in hospitals. The Philippines reported one death in February—a tourist from
Chinese city of Wuhan.
The virus has spread to over 100 countries and territories with
more than 110,000 cases of infection. The death toll reached 4,011 on Tuesday.