Mandaluyong City — As the country sees an increasing number of new cases of Covid-19, Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Chairman and CEO Richard J. Gordon encourages the public to get tested to prevent the undetected transmission of the virus. The Department of Health Covid-19 tracker shows an increasing number of new cases added daily, based on a 7-day moving average.
“With the alarming increase in positivity rates in the past weeks, and as we see more and more of our friends and family developing symptoms, we at the PRC encourage everyone to get tested to ensure that we and our loved ones are safe from Covid,” Chairman Gordon said.
At the onset of the pandemic, in 2020, the PRC was the first to set up a molecular laboratory in the country that is capable of conducting automated RT-PCR tests to detect Covid-19. The PRC’s first molecular laboratory started operations in April 2020, one month after former President Duterte declared a community quarantine in the National Capital Region. The setting up of molecular laboratories was the PRC’s response to the need for “unmasking the enemy,” or revealing infections, so that persons infected could be isolated and not infect others.
As of August 14, 2022, the PRC has completed more than 5.6 million swab and saliva RT-PCR tests in the country. Go to https://tinyurl.com/2wwvnz2j to book an RT-PCR test. The PRC molecular laboratories offer discounts to senior citizens and persons with disability.
The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Cotabato City-Maguindanao molecular laboratory passed the efficiency test set by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine last October 01, 2021.
PRC, Cotabato City – Maguindanao is the 14th molecular laboratory in the country, capable of processing 2,000 tests per day. The new molecular laboratory is in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and will serve Maguindanao, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, and Davao City.
“Naghihintay na lamang tayo ng license to operate mula sa Department of Health upang masimula na ang pag-tetest natin sa mga kababayan natin. Sa ngayon ay 200 test per day lamang ang capacity ng Cotabato Regional and Medical Center at sa pamamagitan ng bagong Molecular Laboratory this will further hasten our COVID-19 response and can test up to 2,000 tests per day,” PRC Chairman and CEO Sen. Dick Gordon said.
PRC tested a total of 4,682,077 as of October 20, 2021. Of over 281 molecular laboratories in the country, PRC has the biggest output of any organization representing 22% of the national testing output.
PRC Molecular Laboratories has an average of 360,000 tests to date compared with only 66,000 for government labs and 40,000 only for private labs because Red Cross molecular laboratories are fully automated, its output is five times more than the regular manual laboratories.
PRC also is ramping up vaccination efforts nationwide to get more people vaccinated as soon as possible through the Bakuna centers and PRC bakuna busses, having inoculated over 331,609 individuals.
