Former Health secretary and incumbent Iloilo 1st District Representative Janette Garin on Wednesday, March 31, cautioned the government from utilizing the Rapid Antigen testing to boost its COVID-19 screening in the "National Capital Region (NCR) plus" bubble, reminding officials the process is essentially used only for symptomatic patients.

Garin, a former Department of Health (DOH) chief, issued the warning after the DOH announced it would use antigen tests to augment its current testing program. 
The lawmaker, who is also a doctor, said the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests still remains the “gold standard” in testing individuals for COVID-19.

“Antigen testing seems to be the norm because it is faster but let’s not be complacent. The RT-PCR test is still the gold standard in COVID-19 testing,” Garin said in a statement.  

“Rapid Antigen testing is only used by doctors if a patient that shows symptoms of COVID is either positive or negative of SARS CoV2. Essentially this is for symptomatics,” she explained.

She also insisted that if asymptomatic patients tested negative, they must still undergo confirmatory RT-PCR test because a rapid antigen test can yield a false negative rate of about 40 percent. 

However, at this point, Garin said it is important for the government to preposition essential medicines such as COVID-19 investigational drugs Remdesivir and Tocilizumab during this pandemic.

  “I have been receiving messages and calls asking for Remdesivir and Tocilizumab. In a pandemic, these medicines should be prepositioned,” she said, adding that the supply of essential medicines must be assured during the pandemic.

Until now, she noted, hospitals are having a hard time sourcing these medicines. “Had these been prepositioned, it would have been a huge problem for them,” Garin lamented.

Likewise, the lawmaker thumbed down the use of Ivermectin as a possible treatment against COVID-19 pointing out that the anti-parasitic drug for animals did not go through intensive medical study and clinical trial for use on humans.

 “Just because we’ve been hearing or reading about its potential, we will believe it. Let’s not put to waste the efforts of our scientists,” she stressed.