Sanitation Tents

Patients with possible COVID-19 will be screened in sanitation tents by designated COVID-19 doctors wearing proper protective equipment.

Symptoms

In order to get tested, the patient must have severe symptoms or have mild symptoms with either pre-existing medical conditions or at least 65 years old. They should present the following symptoms and answer honestly:

• Fever
• Cough
• Cold
• Difficulty Breathing

Contact History

To protect contacts and trace possible local transmissions, patients will be asked for a list of people or places they have visited within the last 14 days.

The sample will be taken by swabs, wiped from the nose and the throat of the patient. It will be placed in a safe transport medium to ensure the sample won’t be contaminated while it is shipped to the laboratory where it will be tested.

The typical turn-around-time for a test will range from twenty-four (24) to forty-eight (48) hours although it may take more time as more samples come in to be tested. The actual test takes around three (3) to six (6) hours, excluding the time it takes to transport and prepare the specimen for testing and verifying the results.

There are many scientists and chemists working on developing cheaper and faster testing kits, but as these tests are extremely technical and the process dangerous, the Local Government Units are required to have specific and proper equipment and specialists to prepare for processing. There are currently 5 testing centers in the country.

Earlier tests cost PHP 5,000 to PHP 8,000 each, although the FDA has finally released commercial test kits that can now be bought and used by certified health facilities. The University of the Philippines is developing tests that cost around PHP 1,200 to PHP 1,500 with additional costs of extraction process at around PHP1,500 to PHP 2,000 totalling to PHP 2,700 to PHP 3,500.

There are currently five (5) testing kits approved by the Food and Drug Administration for commercial use. Antibody-based tests for COVID-19 (IgG/IgM antibody response tests) may also yield false negative results in the early stages of screening prior infection so the FDA recommends the Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) screening tool of choice for Viral SARS-CoV-2 mRNA detection. There is also lack of evidence that the Flow Rapid (FR) Test Kits can confirm COVID-19 cases.

Only a limited number of hospitals and universities that are assessed and certified by DOH-RITM can conduct the test. This is because kits require the following millions worth of equipment and medical expertise to properly and safely sort patient samples:

1. Real-Time PCR Machine and
2. Biosafety Level 2 (BSL 2) Cabinets
3. Skilled and experienced Medical Technician
4. Specialized Molecular Biology Laboratory

All detected and/or reported suspect, probable, and confirmed COVID-19 cases are taken up by disease surveillance officers for epidemiologic investigation who will view medical records, case interviews, and laboratory sample collection and results.

For confirmed cases, the disease surveillance officer teams will have the authority to access travel and venue closed circuit television (CCTV) records of the patient for contact tracing. These are strictly for the use of obtaining verified and updated COVID-19 patient case profile and travel or exposure history in order to recommend necessary actions and measures.

There are currently four (4) testing kits approved by the Food and Drug Administration for commercial use. Antibody-based tests for COVID-19 (IgG/IgM antibody response tests) may also yield false negative results in the early stages of screening prior infection so the FDA recommends the Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) screening tool of choice for Viral SARS-CoV-2 mRNA detection. There is also lack of evidence that the Flow Rapid (FR) Test Kits can confirm COVID-19 cases.