MANILA, Philippines — Early screening will help quell the spread of the novel coronavirus, officials of the University of the Philippines said Thursday morning.
Gerardo Legaspi, director of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), confirmed this in a media briefing that day.
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According to Legaspi, house care is an option for confirmed patients of the new pathogen, while only those with severe symptoms would have to be admitted in hospitals.
READ: How the Department of Health processes potential COVID-19 cases
"Dapat po nating isipin na ang pag-alaga sa bahay ay option po," he said, adding that the outpatient department of the PGH saw around 3,000 patients a day.
"Ang problemang ito, hindi po sa hospital ang sagot. Ang sagot ay nasa komunidad din."
(We should consider home care as an option. This problem, the answer is not in the hospital only. The answer is also in the community.)
Speaking of early screening, the PGH director highlighted that anyone who fell under at least two of the three "screening tools" set by the DOH were already considered persons under investigation and should be tested.
According to a bulletin dated February 26 on the department’s Screening Tool, the DOH looks at three main factors before placing an individual under Patient Under Investigation status:
- Signs and symptoms: Does the person exhibit any respiratory symptoms linked to the novel coronavirus? Does the person have a fever over 38.0 degrees?
- Travel history in the past fourteen days to areas with issued travel restrictions
- History of exposure to confirmed cases or other PUIs
"Ang gamot po sa COVID-19 ay [pagiging] healthy individual na hiwalay po sa pasyenteng mas malala, at ang gamot po sa COVID-19 is our natural ability to combat the virus," he said.
"Hindi po kailangan lahat ng simptomas lumabas para maging positive o negative."
(The treatment for COVID-19 is being a healthy individual separated from more severe patients, and the treatment for COVID-19 is our natural ability to combat the virus. You do not need all the symptoms to come out to become positive or negative.)
READ: FDA allows use of test kits developed by UP scientists as virus spreads locally
Dr. Raul Destura, who was credited with inventing the local coronavirus kit, said the university was "in the final phase" before releasing it commercially.
"Ang ating mga Filipino scientists ay ‘di ilalabas itong kit kung walang malalim na paniniwala sa safety nito," Legaspi added.
(Our Filipino scientists will not release this kit without a deep belief in its safety.)
Asked about when the testing kit recently developed by local scientists can be deployed, UP Manila Chancellor Carmencita Padilla said, "Not all hospitals could run COVID-19 testing because there is a protocol for the local kit."
"We're going to wait for validation which will take about to two to three weeks. After that, it will be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for validation," she added.