Valenzuela to start mass testing on Saturday

Valenzuela City will start mass testing of health workers, persons under investigation and persons under monitoring (PUIs and PUMs) for coronavirus disease 2019 on Black Saturday, April 11, after its partner, The Medical City, obtained Stage 5 laboratory accreditation from the Department of Health (DOH).

Mayor Rex Gatchalian said the test will be free of charge.

“Our city can start na its own localized targeted mass testing,” Gatchalian said.

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“All our PUIs, PUMs, overseas Filipino workers, frontliners, and residents who will show COVID-19 symptoms will be tested for free,” he added, saying they could conduct 1,000 tests per week.

Under the private-public partnership between Valenzuela and The Medical City, the local government will be the one tasked to procure and provide the test kits, extraction kits, and swab kits.

“Our City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit will administer the nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab test samples from the patients,” Gatchalian said in a recent Twitter post.

The samples will then be taken to The Medical City laboratory for processing, he added.

Gatchalian said their personnel will not only conduct tests in the city’s hospitals but also in the residences of those who have COVID-19 symptoms.

He said those who will be found positive for COVID-19 will be quarantined at their two central isolation units—the Balai Banyuhay and the Valenzuela Astrodome.

Gatchalian, in a recent interview, also said they have earmarked P5,000 for each test, which is based on the estimate of the World Health Organization.