The long queue of individuals wanting to avail themselves of the free antigen test for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Office of the Vice President's "Swab Cab" in Quezon City on Monday, Jan. 10, indicates the importance of free testing, Vice President Leni Robredo said.

Robredo, who oversaw the implementation of her office's Swab Cab free-testing drive, said that the lines were already long very early in the morning at the Immaculate Conception Parish Church in Novaliches.

She said it is "an indication that many people wanted to avail of the free swab test to determine if they are sick with COVID-19 or not."

"The sheer number of people who showed up led the OVP Swab Cab team to set up extra swabbing stations to accommodate more individuals," she added.

The Vice President said that of the 26 individuals, who were swabbed by 9:45 a.m., 11 tested positive while 15 turned out to be negative for COVID-19.

“Yung pinaka sadya po nitong Swab Cab, kasi ang access talaga sa swabbing medyo mahirap ngayon dahil dagsa, so yung ginagawa po natin, dinadala natin yung Swab Cab sa mga communities (The very purpose of Swab Cab is to bring the testing to the communities because access to swabbing is really limited due to turnout of people),” Robredo said.

Robredo is advocating for mass testing as an effort to mitigate the spread of the disease. The OVP Swab Cab was launched last year following a spike in cases but was discontinued with the downtrend in COVID-19 cases.

The initiative was, however, reactivated last week due to the new resurgency of COVID-19 cases, especially in Metro Manila.

The aspiring President reiterated that COVID-19 tests should be made free and accessible to the public to determine who should isolate or quarantine, and thus cut off the virus transmission.

“Marami yung na-expose. Hindi nila alam kung mayroon na sila, tapos pag swinab sila ay nagpa-positive. Ang kabutihan po ng alam nila kung positive sila o hindi, at least nakakapag-isolate sila kung positive sila. Hindi na sila nakakahawa ng iba (Many have been exposed. They have no idea if they are already infected until they are swabbed. What's good with knowing that you are positive or not, at least you can already isolate yourself. They can prevent the transmission),” Robredo stressed.

"Fortunately, more people are now cognizant of the value of having themselves tested," she added.

Robredo also said that while the OVP would want to hold a daily Swab Cab, their staff and volunteers were also getting sick, prompting the office to budget its manpower and time to ensure the continuous operations of the project.

The OVP Swab Cab will be in Payatas B, Quezon City on Wednesday, Jan. 12.

Last week, it was in Visayas Avenue and Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City.

The Philippines has 33,169 new cases of the disease on Jan. 10.