Valenzuela City is targeting to test two percent of its total population for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) after almost all of its possible virus carriers, frontliners, returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and vulnerable residents have been subjected to its mass testing program.
The local government said it is expanding the scope of its mass testing program after testing 10,113 individuals or 1.52 percent of its some 664,613 residents, of whom 654 were found to be positive.
“We will not stop testing. Our next target two percent of the population," Mayor Rex Gatchalian said, noting that they are conducting swab or PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests.
Valenzuela City was able to ramp up its mass testing program after partnering with five different laboratories, allowing them to conduct 305 tests per day. Currently, the city is also building its own COVID-19 testing laboratory, which will add 200 more to their testing capacity.
"We managed to somehow keep our deaths at a low... We are testing ahead and we were isolating people, and we were putting them in hospitals if they needed medical attention," Gatchalian added.