Makati City selected as pilot site for Project ARK's pooled testing

A memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Wednesday (Aug. 5) was inked by Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay with the Project ARK group to make the city the pilot testing site for pooled testing for coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).

The mayor said she is proud that Makati was chosen from among other local government units (LGUs) to be the test-site for the pooled RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) testing.

This, according to her,  is a clear indication of confidence and trust in Makati City' s COVID-19 policies and protocols.

The Department of Health (DOH) said "pooled testing" means testing a group or "pool" of people simultaneously. 

"The intent of pooled testing is preserving reagents and testing kits as opposed to the traditional testing strategy which entails testing each person in the pool individually," the agency noted.

"By using this procedure, samples from multiple suspected cases are combined or 'pooled,' then are tested collectively. Select targeted samples are then tested individually  if there is a positive result in the group," the DOH added.

Project ARK is a private-sector-led initiative that aims to boost the country's capacity to identify and contain COVID-19.

The MOA was forged by Makati City, BDO Foundation, the Philippine Children's Medical Center, and the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship or Go Negosyo.

Makati Health Department (MHD) data showed that there are now 2, 260 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city as of Aug. 4. Of this figure, 1,031 are active cases.

Makati City currently has 1,097 recoveries and 132 deaths, the MHD said.