By Argyll Geducos The national government said it was already ramping efforts to fully equip health workers and test more people by producing and procuring personal protective equipment (PPEs) and testing kits to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the country. In a virtual presser, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles announced the arrival of the first tranche of deliveries of PPEs Tuesday night and that the Department of Health (DOH) has been in coordination with the departments of Transportation (DOTr) and National Defense (DND) to ensure the prompt delivery of the PPEs to frontliners. Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles (SCREENSHOT / RTVM / FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) Aside from supplying frontliners with PPEs, Nograles said the government was also undertaking measures to maximize their equipment. According to the Palace official, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Philippine Textile Research Institute was spearheading the production of 500,000 re-useable, washable, and re-wearable facial masks. "While government works to fully equip our health workers it is at the same time ramping up efforts to secure and produce more testing kits so we can test more people and quickly identify and isolate those that have been infected," Nograles said adding that the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act authorizes President Duterte to expedite and streamline the accreditation of testing kits. Local kits Meanwhile, Nograles said the DOST has allocated P53.2 million for the GenAmplifyTM Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) rRT-PCR Detection Kit that is being locally developed by the University of the Philippines (UP)-National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Manila HealthTek Inc. The Palace official said the field validation for the locally-produced COVID-19 testing kits is expected to be finished by Wednesday, and the field implementation in five facilities is expected to take place from April 4 to 25. In his late-night public address Monday, President Duterte assured health workers that the government will give them what they need as they fight the threat of COVID-19 in the country. "We are marshaling and deploying the resources of the government to provide our frontline health workers with everything they require so they can save as many lives as possible," Duterte said. "We are now procuring medical supplies, devices, and personal protective equipment (PPEs). About 1 million medical protective items are being acquired right now, with the government and the private sector to purchase or produce the necessary quantities," he added. To date, the DOH has reported 2,084 cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday afternoon---88 of whom have died while 49 recovered.