Malacañang said on September 8 that the Philippines has now allowed the use of antigen test that detects coronavirus disease (COVID-19) rapidly, GMA News reported.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that the antigen test may be used as a requirement for asymptomatic domestic tourists before their travel to tourist destinations or upon entry at the destination—provided they are in accordance with the protocols of the local government unit.
He also noted that the test may be used as well on domestic tourists who turn symptomatic at the destination that does not have RT-PCR capacity.
The spokesperson, however, stressed that the RT-PCR test is still the best standard of testing because it can detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Recently, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has included the antigen test in its omnibus guidelines on COVID-19—which tackles surveillance, case finding, contact tracing, quarantine, and testing.
GMA News added in its report that the guidelines include proper clinical assessment anchored on symptoms and exposure—serving as the basis for quarantine, testing, discharge, travel, and return-to-work decisions.
The US Food and Drug Administration describes the antigen test as one that can “quickly detect fragments of proteins found on or within the virus by testing samples collected from the nasal cavity using swabs.”
While this test can provide results within minutes, US FDA maintained that a PCR test is highly recommended to confirm the validity of negative results.
