Manila City Mayor Francisco ‘Isko Moreno’ Domagoso on Saturday announced that their city government bought three COVID-19 testing machines capable of testing 16,800 residents a week.
The mayor said their priority will be testing all healthcare workers.
“Makakapag-test ang mga ito ng 50 samples per hour. Uunahin natin ang lahat ng doctor, nurse, mga healthcare workers, starting with Ospital ng Maynila, para mapanatag sila,” the Mayor said.
[It has the capacity to test 50 samples per hour. We will prioritize doctors, nurses, other healthcare workers, beginning with Ospital ng Maynila, so they can be assured.]
“Kung kaya nito mag-50 per hour sa 16-hour shift ng ating mga medtech, makakagawa na ng 16,800 per week ang tatlo nating machines,” he said.
[If the machine can do 50 tests per hour in a 16-hour shift of our medtechs, our three machines can do up to 16,800 tests a week.]
The testing machines purchased from Abbott has an accuracy rate of 99.6-percent. But under public health protocols, confirmatory swab tests are still required.
Isko said the city government’s long-term investment for these machines are worth P6 million each. Aside from COVID-19, it can also help the city government’s public healthcare facilities in detecting cancer, hepatitis, thyroid diseases as well as other infectious diseases.
To recall, the Manila City government has launched its own COVID-19 testing laboratory at the Sta. Ana Hospital, where the Manila Infectious Disease Control Center is located.
As of Friday, July 10, some 158,520 rapid tests and 16,137 swab tests have been conducted by the Manila City government.
