CHIEF COVID frontliner Mayor Beng Climaco announces the possibility of granting free RT-PCR tests to essential workers and APOR or those people who are authorized to travel under different community quarantine statuses or levels once the local government-owned molecular laboratory is operational.
“We are thinking, subject to the policies of the City Health Office and the City Budget Office, granting free RT-PCR tests to authorized persons outside residence or APORs and other essential workers from Zamboanga City. Let us look at a more favorable 2022, but we need everyone’s cooperation,” Climaco said.
The mayor previously asked the support of the City Council to provide a wider
coverage of RT-PCR testing in Zamboanga in response to the clamor of the
public. Residents and travellers have urged the local
government to provide free or subsidize RT-PCR tests which cost between P2,000
to P5,000.
“It may not
be necessarily a free-for-all grant, but at least with a wider coverage than
the present free RT-PCR test given to those with Covid-19 symptoms, suspected
and positive cases only,” she said.
Climaco said
her proposal to the City Council for free RT-PCR testing is subject to the
availability of test kits and once the local molecular laboratory is approved
and becomes operational. She also ordered the City Health Office and the
City Budget Office to come up with the policy in conformity with the guidelines
set by the Department of Health and the Red Cross.
The mayor
issued an executive order making it mandatory for all travellers - whether they
are fully vaccinated or not - entering Zamboanga to present their negative
RT-PCR test results following the emergence of the highly transmissible Delta
variant.
She also
ordered a strict border control and implementation of the health protocols in
Zamboanga, saying travellers must have negative Covid-19 test results,
whether by Saliva RT-PCR tests or nasopharyngeal RT-PCR test, before they enter
Zamboanga.
Climaco
issued Executive Order 651-2021 that mandates all inbound passengers, whether
APOR or private individuals, regardless of reason or purpose of entry,
including transit travellers to present negative RT-PCR test results within 5
days from date of specimen collection and their valid identification cards
before they can enter Zamboanga City.
Many
travellers who underwent random RT-PCR tests conducted by health workers at the
Zamboanga borders and in sea and air ports had tested positive for the deadly
respiratory virus.
The mayor
said these are temporary measures designed to curb the sudden spike in Covid-19
cases in order to promote the health and safety of the general welfare of the
citizens. (Zamboanga Post)
