In a bid to enhance the screening of people with the coronavirus disease, the government task force handling the pandemic response has ordered the Department of Health (DOH) to allow the use of antigen testing for domestic travelers.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has ratified the decision of a technical working group on the provisional use of antigen screening protocol for domestic air travel. The latest decision was reached during a video conference meeting of the IATF on Thursday.
Antigen testing is another form of diagnostic test that detects certain proteins from the virus by testing samples collected through a nasal swab. Test results are validated in laboratory settings.
"The Antigen Screening Protocol for Domestic Air Travel as recommended by the Department of Transportation is provisionally adopted subject to the approval of the use of antigen for travel purposes and subject to the alignment with the final DOH protocols," the IATF resolution No. 70 read.
"For this purpose, the DOH is hereby directed to incorporate the suppletory use of antigen testing for all domestic travel," it added.
The task force recently approved the use of antigen test as a substitute for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test as a pre-boarding requirement for asymptomatic domestic tourists before departure and travel to tourism destinations.
Under IATF Resolution No. 69, antigen testing may also be applied as a requirement upon entry at the place of destination if it is in accordance with the protocols of the local government unit. Antigen testing may also be used in the testing of domestic tourists who turn symptomatic at the place of destination if it has no capacity to conduct RT-PCR tests.
"The proposed HTAC (Health Technology Assessment Council) specification for antigen test is sensitivity of at least eighty percent (80%) and specificity of at least ninety-five percent (95%)," the IATF said.
PCR testing, which involves tracing the virus' genetic material from a swab sample remains the gold standard for confirmatory testing, the IATF said.
Last month, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles announced that the IATF was finalizing protocols for antigen testing to rapidly screen people with the coronavirus. He said antigen test results could be available in just 30 minutes.
As of September 10, the health department reported that 2,764,242 individuals have been subjected to coronavirus tests. At least 10.6 percent of the tested individuals yielded positive results.
The country has recorded 248,947 cases of coronavirus with 186,058 recoveries and 4,066 deaths.