Marikina City started conducting free COVID-19 testing for its residents, according to the city mayor.
Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro on Friday said that the city government started conducting free COVID-19 testing for its residents.
This, as the city mayor said that the health department accredited its COVID-19 testing laboratory after weeks of delay. The free COVID-19 testing started at 8:00 in the morning.
According to Mayor Marcelino Teodoro, this testing would prioritize those who have symptoms of and exposure to carriers of the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19, adding that frontliners, medical staff, and local executives were assigned in handing out cash assistance.
Also, the city government will waive the testing fee for its residents, which usually costs PHP 3,500 – PHP 5,000 if done at private facilities. As per the report, neighboring cities and towns can use the COVID-19 testing laboratory for free, provided, that they would bring their own test kits.
In an interview with DZMM, Mayor Marcelino Teodoro said that the free COVID-19 testing would be a big help to their “marginalized” residents who cannot get consultations or checkup because they were worried that they can’t afford the hospital bills.
The city government of Marikina has 8,000 – 10,000 test kits from the University of the Philippines-National Institutes for Health (UP-NIH). According to the city mayor, the COVID-19 testing laboratory’s machine could process 98 specimens every two-hour to three-hour run.
The said action came as Marikina City reported 109 confirmed coronavirus cases. The COVID-19 cases in the city could spike with its mass testing, according to the city mayor.
As of 4:00 p.m. of April 30, the Department of Health (DOH) reported 276 new coronavirus cases, which brought to the total number of confirmed cases to 8,488. Also, 20 new recoveries and 10 new fatalities were reported in the Philippines
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