What used to be a 24-hour turnaround of swab test results of returning Filipinos became four to five days longer after pre-processing of samples went back to manual, the Philippine Coast Guard said Tuesday, Oct. 20.

During a televised press briefing, Commodore Armand Balilo, Coast Guard spokesman, explained that from the moment the returning nationals arrive at the airport, they gather data from them manually, which makes the entire pre-processing of swab test samples longer.

 “Noong bumalik sa manual operations na katulad nung unang buwan ng lockdown pagdating sa airport imbes na fini-fill-upan sa website ng Red Cross, ngayon ini-interview natin isa isa ang mga OFW at kinukuhanan ng backgound,” Balilo said.

 (When we shifted back to manual operations, which was the same during the first month of lockdowns, instead of filling out forms on the Red Cross website, we would now interview them one by one for their background.) 

“The returning overseas Filipinos will then be subjected to swabbing. Before we used barcodes to mark the specimen but now we manually write their name and the date on it. And that’s the reason why the procedure takes four to five days,” he added.

Now that the Coast Guard collects the specimen and brings them to designated hospitals or laboratories, the number of samples that can be processed daily is between 4,000 to 4,500, according to Balilo.

As of Tuesday, 12 hospitals have been identified to process the samples.

Additional personnel were already deployed to help ease the manual procedure, Balilo said, adding that Admiral George Ursabia, Coast Guard commandant, has instructed to deploy IT personnel at the airport “to improvise in improving the automation.”

“Ginagawa natin lahat ng paraan para kahit hindi magkaroon ng resolution pa sa lalong madaling panahon yung problema ng Red Cross at PhilHealth, on our part nagpagdala na kami ng tauhan at mga IT personnel para magaya natin kung ano man yung sistema na pinaiiral ng Red Cross at sa lalong madaling panahon ay maresolba natin itong delay,” the spokesman said.  

(While the issue between the Red Cross and PhilHealth is being resolved, on our part we have deployed men and IT personnel to implement the system used by the Red Cross in order to resolve the delay soon.)

Returning overseas Filipinos were also encouraged to coordinate with the Coast Guard prior to their travel to the Philippines through the agency’s official Facebook page to be familiar with the process upon arrival in a bid to shorten the pre-processing period for swab tests.