The Philippines will conduct more aggressive tests for COVID-19 even though the country is considered to have one of the highest testing capacities in Asia.

“Ang ating tests per day ay umaabot na ng 35,000 per day (The tests being conducted per day is already around 35,000),” said government COVID-19 testing czar Vince Dizon during the "Laging Handa" media briefing Monday.

“Tayo na po ang isa sa pinakamataas sa Asya na nagte-test, halos doble po ng South Korea at ng Japan (The Philippines has one of the highest testing capacities in Asia, almost double to that of Japan and South Korea),” he added.

However, Dizon pointed out this is not enough to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

“'Yun pong ating testing, tracing, 'yung ating pag-i-isolate ng mga positibo at siyempre 'yung pag-treat ng medyo malubha ng magiging sakit ay talagang lalo pa nating gagawing mas aggressive at mas intense sa mga susunod na mga araw para medyo mapabagal natin ang pagdami ng mga kaso at ma-minimize natin ang mga kababayan nating malubha magkakasakit dahil sa COVID-19 (Our testing, tracing, isolation, and treatment of those tested positive will be intensified and done more aggressively to slow down the rise in the number of cases and minimize the number of getting sick from COVID-19),” the testing  czar said.

He said this was one of the plans laid down by National Task Force (NTF) Against Coronavirus Disease Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez during a meeting Monday.

Dizon noted that Galvez intends to take advantage of the situation while the National Capital Region (NCR) and nearby provinces Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, and Bulacan are under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from Aug. 4 to 18.

The testing czar also revealed that the government isolation centers are between 80 to 85 percent full.

“Mag-e-expand pa po tayo, magdadagdag pa po tayo sa lahat ng mga MECQ areas sa mga darating na araw (We will expand this and will add to this in MECQ areas in the following days),” Dizon assured.

He cited that the Department of Tourism (DoT) has managed to make arrangements with hotels to serve as isolation facilities for persons who tested positive for COVID-19.

“Meron na po tayong mahigot 2,000 hotel rooms na ginagamit ngayon dito sa NCR at katabing mga cities lalo na sa Cavite na ginagamit na ng ating mga LGUs (We currently have over 2,000 hotel rooms now being used in NCR and nearby cities like Cavite thata are now being used by the local government units),” Dizon cited.

“Importante ito dahil isa itong paraan para hindi masyado mapuno at ma-overwhelm ang ating mga hospital at ang ating mga health care workers (This is important because this is one of the ways for us to help hospitals and health care workers not to reach full capacity and not get overwhelmed),” he explained.