The local government of Taguig City activated its drive-thru testing centers for COVID-19 and barangay -based testing to contain the infection in the city.
The drive-thru test centers were rolled out in Lakeshore Hall in Lower Bicutan and Bonifacio Global City in Fort Bonifacio where 43 cases of COVID-19 are recorded.
“With these approaches, we are making COVID-19 testing more accessible to Taguigeños. In doing this, we are capturing the real breadth of COVID-19 infections in the city, normalizing testing, and taking away the stigma around the infection,” Taguig City Mayor Lino Cayetano explained.
Cayetano said the initiatives are part of the city’s Systematic Mass Approach to Responsible Testing (SMART) which seeks to amplify the testing capacity of the city.
The fees for the COVID-19 testing will be shouldered by the city government, according to the chief executive.
The expanded testing will cover recovering COVID-19 patients, persons exhibiting flu-like symptoms, frontline workers, people who had close contact with confirmed cases and vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, elderly individuals, and persons with co-morbidities.
Furthermore, all health workers in the city’s 31 health centers and three super health centers will undergo training for COVID-19 testing.
The program has carried out 1,000 tests through COVID-19 on-call service wherein mobile teams of health workers would collect swabs from possible COVID-19 patients from their homes.
Taguig City reported 197 confirmed COVID-19 cases including 15 fatalities and 24 recoveries.
