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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Duque vouches for testing kits donated by China

Duque vouches for testing kits donated by China

Published Mar 29, 2020 12:00 am
By Roy Mabasa Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Sunday assured the Chinese Embassy in Manila that there is “nothing wrong” with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing kits donated by the Chinese government to the Philippines. Department of Health Secretary Dr. Francisco Duque III (PCOO / MANILA BULLETIN) Department of Health Secretary Dr. Francisco Duque III
(PCOO / MANILA BULLETIN) Duque’s assurance was contained in a text message he sent to Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian to clarify an earlier statement made by DOH Undersecretary Mario Rosario Vergeire that they did not use the Chinese-made COVID-19 test kits after they yielded only 40 percent accuracy "Hi! There is nothing wrong with the Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction machine which is used for generating positive or negative result as the case may be!,” Duque was quoted as saying in the transcript of a text message released by the Chinese Embassy also on Sunday. In the same text message, Duque clarified that the test kits donated by the Chinese government through its Embassy in Manila are “very good” and at par with the standards as those donated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and approved by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM). “Again your Test Kits BGI and SANSURE BIOTECHNOLOGY are very good and up to the standards as those which were donated by WHO and approved by our RITM,” the DOH secretary was quoted as saying. Duque expressed the Philippine government’s “gratitude and appreciation” to the Chinese envoy and his government for the donation aimed to help the Philippines mitigate the spread of the virus in the country.
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