MANILA, Philippines — The city government of Valenzuela on Saturday announced that it will start its mass testing for persons under investigation (PUI) and persons under monitoring (PUM) for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In a press conference, Valenzuela City mayor Rex Gatchalian said those initially targeted by the mass testing are the city’s record of 242 PUIs and 295 PUMs, as well as the frontliners and returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)ADVERTISEMENTThe local government has partnered with The Medical City — who received a Stage 5 level accreditation from the Department of Health to conduct confirmatory COVID-19 tests — for the mass testing. City pathologist Dr. Amelia Fibran said that the Medical City has a turn around of two days after the samples have been submitted. And we have already bought these kits before the NIH kits were already FDA-approved.”“The beauty of this mass testing is that you control the pace,” Gatchalian said of the mass testing. “The government owns the test kits, we can come up with our own protocols based on the national framework.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer April 11, 2020 09:11 UTC