MANILA – The Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) Laboratory Experts Panel is now studying pooled testing of specimens to maximize the testing capacity of laboratories nationwide, a Department of Health (DOH) official said Tuesday.
"Ang pooled testing po ay isang pamamaraan na gumgamit ng algorithm para mas kakaunti lamang ang kailangan na ma-i-test na specimens. Pagsasama-samahin po ang iba't ibang specimens at kung negative ang pooled samples ibig sabihin negative ang specimens na bumubuo ng pooled samples na iyon (Pooled testing is a method which uses an algorithm which allows the testing of fewer specimes. Various specimes will be put together, if the pooled samples are negative, it means every specimen in the samples is negative)," DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual Covid-19 presser.
Vergeire said DOH's Single Joint Research Ethics Board is reviewing pooled testing before its pilot study starts at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.
The ethics review would help identify the appropriate number of specimens to be included in a pooled testing, she added.
"Inaalam din po natin kung alin sa mga laboratories natin feasible gumawa nito ayon sa kanilang kapasidad, health human resources, at ayon sa bilang ng specimens na ite-test kada araw (We're also checking which of our laboratories can perform this according to their capacity, health human resources and number of tests per day)," Vergeire said. (PNA)
