Capitol scraps rapid testing plan, pushes for PCR testing instead

A rapid test kit that detects the presence of antibodies which may indicate an infection.|AP photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu provincial government has scrapped its plan to purchase rapid antibody test kits for its rapid targeted mass testing for coronavirus disease (COVDI-19).

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said the province, instead, will focus its resources in purchasing additional kits for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, the health department’s gold standard for diagnosing the coronavirus infection.

READ: Cebu eyes targeted mass testing, modified ECQ

Garcia said the move is to prevent the province from redundantly spending its resources for the test kits considering that results from rapid test kits will still need confirmation through the PCR testing.

“I believe that the better way to go would be to use the PCR testing, of which, the DOH will be working closely with us,” Garcia said.

“Mag-swab na lang gyud ta kay kadto gung rapid, kuhaan kag dugo, kung mo-positive ka, ipa-confirm man gihapon pod. Ipa-swab na pod, mao lang gihapon,” she added.

(We will just proceed with the swab testing because, for rapid testing, the results still need to be confirmed using the PCR test. If we would, after all, still need to have to confirm it using PCR, then let us just use PCR.)

Garcia said her second thoughts on rapid testing also comes with the “low accuracy” of the rapid test kits.

Earlier, the Department of Health has already cautioned government agencies against using the rapid test kits for the same reason.

In a March 31, 2020-circular, DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III said PCR testing remains the gold standard in the testing of COVID-19. /rcg