Mandaluyong trike drivers subjected to swab tests

About 42 swab samples taken from 277 tricycle drivers in Mandaluyong City who earlier tested positive in the rapid testing turned out negative in the confirmatory swab test/

In a statement, the Mandaluyong City government said all 277 trike drivers who earlier tested positive in the rapid testing were subjected to swab testing using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test to confirm if they were indeed positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

“As of May 28, 42 partial results of the confirmatory RT-PCR tests were released and all tested negative for COVID-19. The other 235 confirmatory tests are awaiting results,” the local government said in a statement.

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“Those who are waiting for the release of their RT-PCR test results will continue to be in isolation and placed under quarantine,” it added.

The city government stressed that only those tricycle drivers who tested negative for COVID-19 will be allowed to resume operation “to ensure their safety and the safety of passengers.”

The Mandaluyong City government has earlier allowed the limited operations of tricycles in the city after two months of no operation because of the enhanced community quarantine.

As part of the condition for their resumption, all tricycle drivers must undergo rapid testing.

Mayor Carmelita Abalos said that 4,500 out of the 7,000 registered tricycle drivers in the city have underwent rapid testing as of last week.

Out of the total number of drivers tested, Abalos said 277 were found positive. She said they are asymptomatic or not experiencing symptoms related to COVID-19.

The Department of Health (DOH) has earlier warned against the use of rapid testing for its can produce false positive or false negative results.

This requires those who were subjected to such testing to undergo confirmatory swab testing using RT-PCR tests to accurately determine if a patient is COVID-19 positive.

As more confirmatory test results are expected to arrive in the coming days, Abalos hopes that the remaining tricycle drivers will test negative for the disease.

“We don’t want to be complacent and we will conduct further testing if necessary,” the mayor said.