Quezon City to open more testing centers

MANILA, Philippines — The Quezon City government is set to open testing centers for the coronavirus disease 2019 in each of the city’s six districts as part of its response against the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Joy Belmonte announced yesterday.

Belmonte said the testing centers would be operational this week.

“We are opening more testing centers to be able to accommodate and identify more residents who might have COVID-19,” she said.

The first testing center, Quezon City Experience, was inaugurated last week at the Quezon Memorial Circle. It caters to residents from District 4.

The city government yesterday opened the testing centers in Districts 5 and 6 located at the SB Park in Novaliches and University of the Philippines’ Asian Institute of Tourism along Commonwealth Avenue, respectively. 

The location of the testing centers for Districts 1, 2 and 3 are still being finalized, but are set to open soon.

The COVID-19 centers are targeting to test 50 cases per day.

The testing centers are equipped with swab booths and also conduct blood testing and X-ray examinations. 

The local government is looking to conduct at least 2,000 swab tests per week, including those that will be administered by local hospitals.

All specimens are forwarded to partner hospitals, such as the Lung Center of the Philippines and St. Luke’s Medical Center for testing.

The city also has a partnership with the Philippine Red Cross for 1,500 tests. 

The Quezon City Police District has been tapped to help conduct the community-based testing and contact tracing.

There are eight teams doing house-to-house confirmatory tests in the barangays.