Philippines eyes use of COVID-19 antigen tests to boost testing capacity
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is eyeing the use of a coronavirus diagnostic test that can provide results in minutes to help authorities ramp up the country’s testing capacity, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Thursday.
Nograles said the government’s inter-agency task force on coronavirus response recently discussed the use of antigen tests. A technical working group was tasked to draft protocols on the use of such diagnostic tests.
Antigen tests quickly detect fragments of proteins found on or within the virus by testing samples collected from the nasal cavity using swabs, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.
The co-chairperson of the IATF said antigen tests can yield results in 30 minutes.
“If that antigen testing will be approved and the protocols will be approved by IATF, that will help ramp up and increase ‘yung testing natin per day,” Nograles said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.
The country has so far tested over 1.13 million people for coronavirus using reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions tests. Experts dubbed RT-PCR tests as the “gold standard” in coronavirus testing.
There are 91 licensed laboratories nationwide running 21,000 tests daily. Nograles said 92 other laboratories have pending accreditation applications.
Fast but...
In May, the US FDA granted the first emergency use authorization for COVID-19 antigen test made by pharmaceutical firm Quidel Corporation.
The US FDA said that while antigen tests can provide results in minutes, this type of diagnostic testing may not detect all active infections.
“Antigen tests are very specific for the virus, but are not as sensitive as molecular PCR tests. This means that positive results from antigen tests are highly accurate, but there is a higher chance of false negatives, so negative results do not rule out infection,” the regulatory body said, adding that negative results from an antigen test may need to be confirmed with a PCR test.
Aside from RT-PCR tests, the use of rapid antibody tests is allowed in the country. This type of test detects the presence of antibodies in the blood of people believed to have contracted COVID-19 but some medical experts warned against this because of potential false positives and false negatives.
The coronavirus pandemic has infected over 72,000 in the Philippines, with 1,843 people deaths.
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