COVID Mass Testing: Who are Prioritized According to Health Department?

Who are prioritized for COVID mass testing as per health department?

COVID MASS TESTING – Health Secretary Francisco Duque III talks about COVID-19 mass testing and who are the priorities to avail this.

Mass testing for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is being pushed, however, the conduct cannot be easily done due to a huge number of people needing it but with limited testing kits. As it sets to start, the number of deaths recorded due to this disease, on the other hand, was spiking.

With limited resources being stretched, testing program could take several weeks before it can happen. And as mass testing will begin, we can surely expect a spike in the coronavirus-related figures in the country.

COVID Mass Testing — Photo: People’s Health Movement

And now, according to ABS-CBN report, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Monday, April 13, that the mass testing will prioritize the following persons: “elderly, pregnant women, and those with serious symptoms or pre-existing health conditions like cancer and asthma.”

The above-mentioned persons are at high risk to contract the virus which is why they are on top priority of the government. Duque told DZMM as per report, “Mayroon pa rin tayong prioritization dahil hindi naman infinite iyong ating test kits.”

Mass testing cannot be conducted before because initially, the country only had one testing lab and 2,000 testing kits. However, due to donation from other countries, we now have a lot of testing kits which makes it possible for the government to conduct now a mass testing.

As of Sunday, 4,648 confirmed cases of the disease, with 297 deaths and 197 recoveries have been recorded by the Department of Health (DOH).