The Manila City government opened its fifth walk-in coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) testing facility at the Ospital ng Tondo Thursday morning.
Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso said the new testing facility can accommodate 100 people per day and will be open at 6 a.m. from Monday to Friday.
The city's walk-in testing facilities use serology testing machines that process blood samples and has an accuracy rate of 99.6 percent.
Similar to the other testing centers in the city, the facility will be offering free testing for both residents and non-residents of the country's capital.
Domagoso said this is in line with their inclusive approach in fighting the pandemic and is also a way to help cash-strapped individuals who require testing amid the COVID-19 crisis.
"Naaawa naman ako sa tao. May mga gusto na pumasok sa trabaho, gagastos pa sila. Ang negosyante, lugi-lugi na rin. Gagastos pa sila for testing (I feel pity for people. There are those who want to go to work, but they still have to spend. Businessmen are really at a disadvantage. They have to spend for testing). That is why we’ve always wanted to offer this service,” he said in his speech.
The other walk-in testing centers in Manila are at the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, Ospital ng Sampaloc, Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital, and Ospital ng Maynila.
The city also has two drive-thru COVID-19 testing facilities near the Andres Bonifacio Monument in Ermita, Manila and at the Quirino Grandstand.
Two mobile serology testing clinics also roam around at least in two barangays per day to conduct testing.
With the opening of Manila's fifth walk-in testing facility, the city's serology testing capacity is now at 100,000 tests per month.
The Manila mayor also said that when they open their second molecular laboratory at Sta. Ana Hospital, where patients can be swabbed for free, the city will have a capacity of 1,000 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests per day.
“Palalakasin din namin ang capability ng local government sa pamamaraan ng ‘gold standard’ way of testing. We are about to finish an additional swab laboratory testing area with two machines given to us by DOH and DBM,” he told reporters.
Its first molecular laboratory is also located at Sta. Ana Hospital.
Data from the city government showed that they have conducted a total of 26,543 PCR tests and 66,080 serology tests as of Wednesday noon.
Manila now has 13,350 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of this number, 798 are active cases, 12,093 have recovered, and 459 died.