P14 million worth of local test kits procured by OVP

MANILA, Philippines — The office of Vice President Leni Robredo has procured P14 million worth of locally developed test kits to help contain the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country.

The test kits were developed by scientists from the University of the Philippines, led by Filipino infectious disease expert Raul Destura.

The COVID-19 test kits will be distributed to select hospitals certified as laboratories, namely San Lazaro Hospital in Manila; Lung Center of the Philippines and V. Luna Hospital in Quezon City and the Bicol Regional Diagnostic and Reference Laboratory.

These include detection and extraction kits which will help in conducting a total of 10,000 tests.

Robredo met yesterday with Destura during her visit to his company, Manila HealthTek Inc., in Marikina City.

Destura led the team from the UP-National Institutes of Health and Philippine Genome Center in developing the product.

Robredo’s office earlier donated P5.3 million worth of extraction kits to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, which serves as the country’s main testing laboratory for COVID-19.

Robredo had expressed her support for mass testing for COVID-19 in the country, stressing that the strategy has become effective in flattening the curve in other countries, such as South Korea.

Covid facilities

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has converted at least four shipping containers into health facilities for COVID-19 patients in Metro Manila.

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said the government is readying the shipping containers as confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients continue to increase.

“While the spread of infection seems to have slowed down because of the enhanced community quarantine, we just have to be ready in the event that the situation worsens,” Villar said.

The DPWH said the four containers can be connected together to create mobile field hospitals for possible isolation and treatment of 16 patients classified by the Department of Health (DOH) as probable COVID-19 cases.

The four containers have a size of 40 feet by eight feet width and nine feet height. The health facilities will have proper ventilation and toilet in each room.

Villar said the conversion of the shipping containers to health facilities was one of the recommendations of the DPWH Task Force to Facilitate Augmentation of Local and National Health Care Facilities.

He added that the shipping containers converted to healthcare facilities are also being adapted in countries where there are COVID-19 cases. – With Robertzon Ramirez, Richmond Mercuri