An infectious disease expert clarified on Wednesday, Jan. 5, that having influenza will not cause one to get a positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result.

During President Rodrigo Duterte's taped public address aired late Tuesday night, Dr. Edsel Salvana maintained that RT-PCR tests are accurate tests that "detect the presence of absence of SARS-CoV-2."

"Hindi po totoo (It's not true) that influenza will give you a positive COVID-19 test. That is fake news po. All the RT-PCR tests remain valid and there's no truth to the rumor that influenza with cause a positive COVID test," Salvana said.

"All FDA cleared kits remain valid for COVID-19 diagnosis. We can be assured that our RT-PCRs are reliable and will not confuse COVID with the flu," he assured.

The expert assured that RT-PCR tests are "COVID-specific."

This after social media posts claimed that the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was withdrawing its RT-PCR test because it "didn't differentiate the COVID-19 and the flu."

On July 21, 2021, CDC issued an advisory saying that it was withdrawing its request to the US FDA for the emergency use authorization of "the CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel, the assay first introduced in February 2020 for detection of SARS-CoV-2 only."

Salvana said CDC retired the old RT-PCR test because there were better tests available.

"It did not fail. This test was not unreliable. The only reason that they are removing it is because they have better tests and there are other tests that they want to focus on," he added.

"We can be assured that all our RT-PCR tests are reliable and will not confuse COVID-19 with the flu," he reiterated.