The Department of Health (DoH) on Saturday said that over 19,000 people nationwide were already tested for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“We have 19,000 plus unique individuals that we have tested based on the report yesterday. And we have positive results coming out of 3,749 (persons),” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in a radio interview.
The number of positive results does not match with the number of positive cases reported because there are repeated tests conducted on admitted patients for monitoring, noted Vergeire.
Vergeire said 15,398 individuals were found negative while 49 people have “equivocal results.”
“The equivocal result can be positive or negative. So it needs to be repeated to determine if the patient is really positive or negative,” Vergeire said.
Meanwhile, Vergeire said that their testing protocol remains the same.
“For now, our priority is symptomatics: those with severe cases, vulnerable groups (including) elderly persons, (those with) pre-existing conditions, pregnant, and even our health care workers who are already showing symptoms,” Vergeire said. (Analou de Vera)
