Group seeks mass testing before school opening

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines — A youth group yesterday urged students and parents to defy a plan of the Commission on Higher Education and Department of Education to resume classes in August or September unless mass testing for coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 is conducted nationwide.

The Samahan ng Progresong Kabataan (SPARK) accused education officials of ignoring the rise in the number of COVID cases and the experiences of other countries that resumed classes too soon.

The group cited reports that the opening of classes in France and South Korea resulted in students getting infected with the virus.

It said the blended learning scheme, which the education officials are pushing, does not guarantee the health and safety of students, even as only 50 percent of the class is physically present.

Testing centers for PNP personnel

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police is planning to put up two more COVID testing centers in the Visayas and Mindanao to cope with the rising number of PNP personnel getting infected with the virus.

Once established, the centers will benefit police officers in other parts of the country who are also vulnerable to the disease, being among the frontliner workers, according to Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, spokesman for the PNP.

Banac said the plan involved the construction of COVID-19 testing centers in Cebu City and either in the cities of Cagayan de Oro or Davao.

The PNP has a testing center at Camp Crame in Quezon City which was recently approved by the Department of Health (DOH).

The PNP has 263 COVID cases with four deaths. Of the figure, 102 have recovered and the rest are still undergoing treatment.

At least 1,350 police officers are under strict monitoring for showing symptoms of the virus.

Banac appealed for understanding as the testing centers, if approved, would be exclusive for police officers and their dependents. Emmanuel Tupas