By Chito Chavez
Quezon City (QC) Mayor Joy Belmonte on Saturday thanked the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) for making the city its first COVID-19 testing site.
“We are very thankful to the PRC, most especially to its chairman Sen. Richard Gordon, for choosing Quezon City as its first site for COVID-19 mobile testing,” Belmonte said.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Quezon City has reached an alarming level as the Department of Health (DOH) revealed 476 such confirmed cases as of 4 p.m. of April 3.
With the surging number of COVID-19 cases, Belmonte hoped the program would arrest the upswing and boost the city’s efforts to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus.
As part of the agreement, PRC will be coordinating with the city to put up multiple testing sites in areas to be identified by the QC Health Department (QCHD).
“All the test samples will be gathered and handed to the Red Cross for proper testing,” Belmonte said.
She added that persons under investigation (PUIs) will be prioritized for testing.
Gordon said Quezon City was chosen to be the pilot area for its mobile testing program because of its dense population and due to the high number of COVID-19 cases in the city.
He said the testing in Quezon City can begin next week, with the PRC using two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines to determine the presence of the coronavirus.
One PCR machine can produce 1,500 test results per day.