Date Released: 06 May 2020 Releasing Officer: DIR. ARSENIO R. ANDOLONG Chief, Public Affairs Service

Mega Swabbing Center in Taguig City opens to boost COVID19 testing capacity

Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana together with Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo M. Año, National Action Plan Against COVID19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr., Deputy Chief Implementer Secretary Vince Dizon and Taguig City Mayor Lino Cayetano inspected and witnessed the opening of Mega Swabbing Center in Taguig City on 6 May 2020.

ENDERUN COLLEGES, Taguig City – As part of the government’s continuous efforts to mitigate the spread and the effects on public health of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19), the second Mega Swabbing Center opened in Taguig City on 6 May 2020.

The swabbing center can conduct 1,000 to 1,500 swabs daily, boosting the country’s health system capacities to detect, isolate and treat COVID19 patients.

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Secretary of National Defense Delfin N. Lorenzana, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo M. Año, National Action Plan Against COVID19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr., Deputy Chief Implementer Secretary Vince Dizon and Taguig City Mayor Lino Cayetano inspected and witnessed the opening of the facility.

Health workers from the Department of Health will conduct the swabbing, while personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines will undertake the encoding part in the operations, according to Secretary Lorenzana.

“We will supply personnel as bar coders and encoders from the Armed Forces, who will be trained to assist the swabbers in the Mega Swabbing Centers,” the Defense Chief said.

Health Secretary Duque acknowledged the collaboration of the private sector and the government in addressing the COVID19 situation. “(They have) exerted and mobilized resources to complement the national government’s efforts in ramping up our testing capacity in general, and in particular, to service the OFWS both land-based and sea- based,” the Health Secretary said.

According to Secretary Duque, the Mega Swabbing Centers are initially intended to serve the returning overseas Filipino workers and the health workers. The centers will eventually be utilized to expand targeted mass testing across Metro Manila.

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