The Quezon City government on Saturday unveiled its own molecular laboratory that will be able to process about a thousand coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test samples a day.
According to Mayor Joy Belmonte, the inauguration of its own COVID-19 laboratory in Barangay Teachers Village East will allow the local government to take "more immediate measures to contain the spread of the virus in the community" as it can process around 600 to 1,000 samples daily with one to two days of turnaround time.
The local government is only awaiting the accreditation of the Department of Health before the lab can finally start its operations.
“Kung hindi sa tulong ng ating mga katuwang sa pribadong sektor, mananatiling pangarap na lang itong molecular laboratory (Were it not for the support of our partners in the private sector, this molecular lab will just remain a dream),” Belmonte said.
Joseph Juico, the city's COVID-19 task force head, said the molecular laboratory is considered a long-term valuable investment for the city as it can be used to identify and process other infectious diseases and used for research purposes.
“The laboratory has the ability to identify and process other diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis, cancer, and tuberculosis, among others,” he said.
The new molecular laboratory will also lessen the city government’s expenses as the city will no longer pay private hospitals and laboratories to process the tests, he added.