Philippine Red Cross Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Senator Richard Gordon has ordered the mobilization of booking booth for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to serve country-bound “balikbayans” and returning Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
“Testing is important,” Gordon said in a statement issued Thursday, Aug. 19, as he stressed the importance of COVID-19 testing in the fight to curb the spread of the virus.
“We need to test to determine who's COVID-19 positive or not, especially with the threat of the Delta variant,” he added.
PRC staff and volunteers set up a booking booth at the NAIA Terminals 1,2, and 3. This after Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Eddie Monreal wrote a letter to Gordon stating that OFWs are looking for PRC's presence in the terminals.
“What is important now is to serve our balikbayans and our hardworking OFWs, and to safely bring them home to their families by providing quality, fast, and affordable testing for COVID-19,” Gordon said.
Gordon noted that the booking booth aims to provide returning Filipinos access to “high quality, fast, and affordable COVID-19 testing which PRC can amply provide.”
PRC, meanwhile, explained that its booking site for COVID-19 testing is the “first one to have a digitized system of pre-arrival registration and computerized verification and encoding allowing the passenger to book and track their results efficiently and safely.”
As Gordon underscored the importance of testing, he also noted that the spread of the disease can also be prevented and vaccination which is also offered by the PRC. “We need to win our war against COVID-19,” he said.
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