The government is expected to "invest heavily" in ramping up efforts to test and track down people possibly infected with the new coronavirus disease.
As the country's cases of coronavirus continued to increase, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said they intend to launch a new program on expanded testing efforts well as hiring of additional contact tracers in a bid to stem the spread of the disease.
"'Yan po talaga ang ating papaigtingin, ang T3 natin – testing, tracing. Now iyong tracing talaga, we really will invest heavily in this kaya nga magsisimula na iyong proseso ng pagkuha ng 50,000 more tracers (We will intensify our T3 -- testing tracing (and treatment). On tracing, we really will invest heavily in this so the process of getting 50,000 more tracers will start)," Roque said.
"Ang istratehiya, kinakailangan talaga malawakan ang ating targeted testing at ginagawa na po natin iyan at mayroon nga pong bagong programa na ilulunsad tungkol dito, tapos kapag na-trace na natin, paigtingin din natin iyong ating tracing nang ma-isolate po natin lahat iyong pupuwedeng magkalat ng sakit (The strategy is we need to expand targeted testing and we redoing that and we will launch a new program on this. Also, we must trace, step up tracing to isolate all those possibly carrying the disease)," he said.
Roque had earlier announced that the government aims conduct 10 million tests that will cover other frontliners and those not showing symptoms of the disease. The accelerated testing comes following the government's purchase of additional testing kits and other medical equipment as well as accreditation of more laboratories.
"Maghintay lang po tayo sa detalye pero bukod po doon sa 10 million na na-order na natin at one million na na-deliver na na PCR testing, magkakaroon po ng mas malawak pang targeted testing na iaanunsiyo po natin sa mga darating na panahon (Let us wait for the details but apart from the 10 million we ordered and one million PCR tests already delivered, we will have an expanded targeted testing that we will announce soon)," he said.
Roque has admitted the government could have scaled up the testing effort at the onset of the disease weeks ago.
"If I were to look back and what we could have done better, siguro po noong nagkaroon tayo ng unang kaso na imported case ng COVID, eh dapat pinalawak na natin iyong testing capacity natin kaagad (Maybe when we had our first imported case of COVID, we should have expanded our testing capacity right away)," he said.
The government has proposed a P10-billion subsidy program for coronavirus testing under the Bayanihan 2 bill. Another P15-billion will be allocated for cash-for-work program, possibly for the hiring of 50,000 contact tracers, will also be included in the proposed Bayanihan law.
Accelerating the testing and tracing efforts, Roque said, is among the government's steps to balance the need to protect public health while helping revive the stalled economy.
More than 54,000 people have been infected by the coronavirus disease in the country as of July 11. It has claimed 1,372 lives.
Based on the Department of Health records, the country has so far 74 testing laboratories. Around 870,000 people have been tested for the virus. The country's positivity rate is 7.7 percent.