After Malabon and Quezon City, Marikina was the latest destination of the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) Swab Cab initiative in Metro Manila.
The OVP kickstarted the mobile swab testing on Tuesday, May 11, in the communities of Marikina in a bid to test more people and give proper healthcare to those found infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“Kung nakikita n’yo po tatlong swab cab ang nandito (If you can see that three swab cabs are here),” Vice President Leni Robredo, who went live on her official Facebook page, said.
These swab cabs were stationed in the city’s Concepcion Integrated School, where an ambulance was also on standby to bring those who test positive to the designated isolation center. Then, contract tracing will immediately follow.
The vice president met with Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro and Rep. Stella Quimbo to discuss their collaboration on her office’s community testing project.
Likewise, Robredo said they signed a memorandum of agreement for their “partnership” in the Swab Cab initiative.
For this program, the local government unit has to do the groundwork of finding at-risk people—both symptomatic and asymptomatic—and providing the isolation facility. It will also identify who are the swabbers.
The mobile COVID-19 testing facility aims to support the mass testing capacity of local government units with high transmission and infection rates.
Outside Metro Manila, the OVP also brought the Swab Cab in Imus, Cavite last month with help from its private sector partners.
Robredo said her office gives free rice and hygiene kits to anyone who would submit themselves to testing while those would later test positive will be provided food packs for two weeks and COVID-19 care kits.