Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday, Jan. 3, announced that her Swab Cab free antigen testing in high-risk areas will restart this week as the country experiences a fresh surge of COVID-19 cases.
In a tweet, Robredo said that her office will restart its Swab Cab initiative, adding that the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) free telemedicine consultation, Bayanihan E-Konsulta, is still operating.
“Sa mga nangangailangan mag konsulta sa doktor, tuloy tuloy pa po ang ating Bayanihan E-Konsulta. Ibabalik na din po natin ngayong linggo ‘yung ating mga Swab Cabs (To those who need to consult with a doctor, our Bayanihan e-Konsulta is still continuing. We will also have our Swab Cabs back this week),” she announced.
The vice president, however, did not say where the Swab Cab will be re-launched.
The Swab Cab project was launched in April 2021 amid the COVID-19 outbreak in the National Capital Region (NCR) and other provinces. It was done in Malabon, Quezon City, Marikina City, Imus, Tuguegarao, and Naga.
READ: OVP, partners deploy 3 Swab Cabs for antigen testing in Malabon
The free antigen testing initiative aimed to do surveillance testing in hotspots or areas with a high number of new COVID-19 cases. Those who tested positive by the antigen kit were given two weeks’ worth of food packs. They also underwent confirmatory RT-PCR tests before they were put in isolation facilities.
On the other hand, Robredo’s free telemedicine consultation, powered by volunteer doctors and non-medical volunteers, was also first launched in April during the surge to help indigent and vulnerable communities.
The program, which can be accessed through free data, is open for both COVID and non-COVID patients.
Aside from free teleconsultation with volunteer physicians, patients endorsed by doctors will also receive a COVID care kit composed of masks, basic medicines, vitamins, pulse oximeter, and sanitizer. The kit will be delivered to their homes.
To date, the program has 4,271 external volunteers and 1,327 volunteer doctors.
READ: Robredo takes E-Konsulta graveyard shift to handle COVID-19 calls
They processed 45,990 requests and gave out 9,556 COVID-19 care kits, which were given to COVID-positive patients of Bayanihan E-Konsulta.
The country is experiencing another surge of COVID-19 cases, feared to be fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
On Monday, the country logged 4,084 new cases with a positivity rate of 20.7 percent, the highest since Sept. 30. This ended at least two months of less strict quarantine measures as Filipinos ushered in the holiday season.