DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio pulled out the mandatory rapid diagnostic testing (RDT) to all individuals who are coming in the city due to its limitation in catching carriers of the Sars-CoV-2, which causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Duterte-Carpio said in a radio interview on Monday, June 6, that using RDT as a testing tool is not "worth it."
"Ang atoang rapid diagnostic test kits gi-pullout na namo sa atoang [health] screening upon arrival, because nakita namo nga gamay ra kaayo ang atong makuha. Dili worth it ang atoang investments sa atong mga nakuha (We removed RDT from our health screening upon arrival because we saw only a few people with the virus were being detected. It's not worth the investment)," the mayor said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
She said the city will instead focus on its community surveillance to trace those who have Covid-19.
The mayor said RDTs are distributed to different district health offices in the city.
"Ang doctors na didto ang naga-decide kung kinsa ang i-RDT ug kung kinsa ang i-[RT-]PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) testing. (Doctors in the area will determine who will be tested using the RDT or RT-PCR)," Duterte-Carpio said.
During the previous national government-initiated sweeper flights, all passengers underwent RDT test and physical examination, and in case a passenger tests positive for the virus, he or she is then referred to Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) for a confirmatory test using the RT-PCR test.
Health officers would then advise them to either undergo a swab test at SPMC, go to a city quarantine facility, or just undergo a 14-day mandatory home quarantine.
RDT is also being used on the city's random community surveillance within communities with rising Covid-19 cases.
This even as Duterte-Carpio expressed her doubt regarding the efficiency of the RDTs.
Duterte-Carpio agrees with the city's medical consultants that the best way to detect the presence of the virus is by using the RT-PCR test.
"But we deemed it 'it's better than nothing'. Naa man ta'y kit, ato nalang gamiton para sa mga tao na asymptomatic (Since we have the(RDT) kit, we would make use of it for the individuals who are asymptomatic)," Duterte-Carpio previously said.
She also previously said health screening is not limited to using RDT as individuals are also checked whether they are experiencing Covid-19 related symptoms such as cough and cold, and have close contact with someone who may be Covid-19 positive.
