As the country’s cases of coronavirus continued to rise, the government is carrying out "targeted testing" instead of testing all Filipinos to detect those with the illness.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque explained that testing everyone would not be as effective as targeted testing or testing based on the person's risk of infection.

"Gaya ng sinabi ni Secretary Vince Dizon, tayo po ay targeted testing (Like what Secretary Vince Dizon said, we implemented targeted testing)," Roque said during a televised press briefing Tuesday, April 6.

"At importante po na strategic ang ating gagawing testing dahil gaya nang nasabi na niya kanina pa, hindi naman po epektibo iyong lahat ng tao ay iti-test. At sabi nga po ni Dr. Edsel (Salvana), depende kasi iyan kung kailan iyong naging exposure, otherwise hindi rin reliable iyong pagti-test ( It is important to have strategic testing because as he said, testing all people will not be effective. Dr. Edsel even said it will depend on the time of exposure, otherwise the test will not be reliable)," he added.

Roque made the statement after Vice President Leni Robredo urged the government to step up testing efforts to quickly detect, isolate, and treat those infected with the virus. In light of the country's surging cases of infections, Robredo said it was best to increase the daily tests from the current 30,000 to 40,000. She proposed that there should be massive testing in areas with high COVID-19 transmission. 

The government’s risk-based testing strategy involves testing only those who must be tested, including health workers, those with symptoms or in contact with coronavirus cases.

At present, Roque noted the government provides free testing to medical and economic frontliners, as well as people with symptoms and those with exposure to coronavirus cases. The cost of these tests will be shouldered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), he added.

Roque admitted though that a person may have to shell out a minimal fee P300 for the test.

"Huwag po kayong mag-atubili, at most ang babayaran ninyo po ay P300 (Don't hesitate and at the most, you will pay around P300)," Roque said.

"So ang bayad po diyan ay PhilHealth ‘no, kaya nga po bilyun-bilyon, iyan na po ang single largest expenditure ng PhilHealth. So hindi naman po tama na sabihin natin hindi tayo nakapagbibigay ng libreng testing sa ating mga kababayan dahil iyan nga po ang binibigay ng PhilHealth (The payment will be made by PhilHealth. That's why it reached billions. Thats the single largest expenditure of PhilHealth. So it is not right to say we are not providing free testing to our people because that's being offered by PhilHealth)," he said.