BAGO CITY in Negros Occidental opened a drive-through swab sample collection center for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Wednesday.
As the first local government unit (LGU) in the province to have launched the facility, Bago, south of this city, aims to provide faster and safer swabbing for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test with less face-to-face contact.
“This is one of the initiatives being implemented by the city government to test as many Bagonhons as possible to curb the spread of Covid-19,” Mayor Nicholas Yulo said a statement.
City Health Office (CHO) medical technologist Glenly Casona, swab team leader, said they are targeting persons who could be swabbed inside their own vehicles since they do not have enough manpower to do house-to-house testing.
“Some Bagonhons are hesitant to undergo swabbing because they are not comfortable with the presence of ambulance or medical technologists in PPE (personal protective equipment) in front of their houses,” she added.
Casona said through the system, the city government can will incur lesser expenses since the assigned personnel will no longer need more PPE.
“You have to change as often when going house-to-house,” she said.
Some 21 city residents underwent swabbing on the first day at the specimen collection station situated at the front yard of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) Gymnasium in Barangay Poblacion.
The drive-through swabbing, open from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. from Monday to Friday, is free for residents who have obtained endorsement from the CHO Contact Tracing Team or Operations Center.
The CHO personnel also did quarantine facility swabbing for returning overseas Filipinos and locally stranded individuals.
As of 9 p.m. on Thursday, Bago has 232 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 148 recoveries, 78 active cases, and six deaths. (By Nanette Guadalquiver)
No comments:
Post a Comment