No more Covid-19 testing backlog in Baguio, 3 regions
>> Thursday, May 28, 2020
By Pigeon
Lobien
BAGUIO CITY – The
Baguio General Hospital Medical Center (BGHMC) coronavirus disease (Covid-19)
sub-national testing laboratory has no more backlogs in reverse transcription-polymerase
chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests, a health official said on Friday.
During a
meeting with the city's Inter-Agency Task Force, chaired by Mayor Benjamin
Magalong, BGHMC medical chief Dr. Ricardo Ruñez, Jr. said they have tested a
total of 2,600 patients in less than a week, covering Baguio, and Regions 1
(Ilocos) and 2 (Cagayan Valley).
Ruñez said
that after a lull in testing last weekend, they went full blast processing
600-700 tests a day enabling them to wipe out the backlog.
He said this
was a vast improvement from the 300-400 a day capability the previous weeks,
with the arrival of the new kits.
He said the
delay was caused by two factors: their medical technology staff had to study
first the new test kits and they had to rest.
“Kailangang
aralin muna ang mga new test kits kaya may delay (The new test
kits needed to be studied and learn how to use thus the delay). Then the med
techs had to take a rest,” said Ruñez.
Ruñez also
announced that they now make full use of the four PCR machines stationed at the
facility, while they still have 5,000 test kits remaining for the three
regions.
Of the city’s
31 confirmed cases, there were 29 recoveries, one fatality, and one active case
remaining now confined at BGHMC.
With the
city’s zero backlogs with the continued testing, Magalong is now hopeful that
the true Covid-19 situation in the city can be established.
The city’s
limited testing capability earlier had hampered its efforts to flatten the
curve, he said.
Magalong said
Covid-19 national policy chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. and Senator Bong
Go have vowed to help the city enhance its testing capacity.
Galvez is
scheduled to come up to the city on May 21 to work out the requirements which
are expected to include an automated extraction machine, 30,000 test kits, and
consumables and personal protective equipment, Magalong said.
The meeting with
Galvez, Magalong said, will not only cover the city but the entire Cordillera
Administrative Region for unified action against the disease. (PNA
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