PRC began the pilot run of its saliva-based COVID-19 testing
The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) on Tuesday launched the pilot run of its saliva-based COVID-19 testing in the Philippines.
This, as saliva-based COVID-19 testing was seen as a “less invasive” and cheaper alternative to swab tests.
PRC chairperson Senator Richard Gordon told reporters in a briefing that he thought that saliva-based COVID-19 testing was a game-changer as they used to have difficulty getting swabbed.
The cost of saliva-based COVID-19 testing, according to Sen. Gordon, was “at least P2,000”.
Sen. Gordon had been pushing for the use of saliva-based COVID-19 tests in order to detect the new coronavirus and said that this would cut the cost and would yield fast results with 99.9% reliability.
The Philippine Red Cross already submitted to the Department of Health (DOH) the results of the tests it conducted in order to assess the accuracy of saliva-based tests in detecting the coronavirus.
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The Philippine Red Cross was still waiting for the approval of the Department of Health before saliva-based tests for COVID-19 can be institutionalized.
According to Senator Gordon, the Philippine Red Cross planned to conduct 1,000 saliva-based tests in its pilot run with be parallel swab testing and the results of both tests would then be compared for accuracy.
Sen. Gordon explained that only a milliliter of saliva would be needed for the said test and the specimen would then be put in a sterile bottle and submitted to PRC laboratory.
In addition, the samples would then be marked with a bar code so that the samples won’t be misplaced. Sen. Gordon noted that it could only take at least 3 hours in order to know the result of a saliva-based test.
“Kapag ito ay pumasa, mas maraming kababayan na natin ang magkakaroon ng kakayahan na makapagpatest upang sila ay ligtas na makabalik sa trabaho,” Sen. Gordon said in a tweet.
Ito ay game-changer sa ating laban kontra COVID-19. Mas madalas na makakapagtest ang ating mga kababayan dahil mas abot-kaya na ang saliva test.
— Richard J. Gordon (@DickGordonDG) January 12, 2021
Apart from the Philippine Red Cross, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) was also studying the potential use of saliva-based testing for the coronavirus.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said that the chances for the approval of saliva-based COVID-19 testing were “big”, although its accuracy remained subject to validation.
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