Senator Nancy Binay on Wednesday, March 31 urged the government to review its current testing policies on COVID-19 saying it’s plan to use rapid antigen test kits in an effort to ramp up coronavirus testing in the country might not be enough.

Binay said the use of antigen tests is a “hit-and-miss” testing strategy and spending money to procure these tests would be better spent on more reliable testing methods.

The government earlier announced it plans to procure 500,000 antigen test kits to boost its COVID-19 screening activities in the National Capital Region (NCR) plus bubble. 

“With dwindling resources, the government must use its money wisely and sparingly,” Binay said in a post on Twitter.

The senator also said the use of rapid antigen tests could do more harm than good since it’s not reliable in detecting asymptomatic cases.

She also pointed out that even medical experts had warned against over reliance on these tests as it could lead people into a false sense of security.

“Antigen only detects infectiousness, not the infection. it can only scan high viral loads, but it’s not reliable for those who are asymptomatic. In other words, it can do more harm than good,” she said.

Binay said the use of the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests—known as the gold standard in COVID-19 testing—seems to be best option.

“I think the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and the Department of Health (DOH) should seriously consider its testing policies. For one, antigen may not be the better option as far as mass testing or individual testing is concerned because there are many instances that they give off false negative results,” she said.

“The close to a billion peso price tag for consumable quick fix testing would go to waste, so why not just use the money to build more RT-PCR centers and facilities,” she pointed out.

Binay said the price of an antigen kit ranges between P750 to P1,500 per unit. With 500,000 kits to be procured, the government could be spending anywhere between P375-million and P750-million for greater NCR alone.

While the use of antigen tests may be convenient and the waiting time is shorter, the lawmaker said she believes it would be more practical for the government to spend on reliable COVID-19 testing systems.

Currently, only those who tested positive through RT-PCR tests are considered as confirmed COVID-19 cases. 

“Maybe the government should consider giving additional support for more Red Cross ‘saliva testing’ in key areas to also hasten the processing of the results,” she stressed. 

In February this year, the Philippine Red Cross started rolling out the cheaper and non-invasive COVID-19 saliva testing, which still employs the RT-PCR technique.The cost of saliva testing is priced at P2,000, which is P1,800 cheaper than the swab testing