Navotas residents refuse free swab tests

MANILA, Philippines — Mayor Toby Tiangco on Thursday expressed concern that while Navotas has lowered the number of COVID-19 cases, residents refuse to undergo free swab tests.

In an interview with “The Chiefs” on OneNews / TV5, he said the lockdown from July 14 to 29 was effective in cutting down the positive rate from 23 percent to 14 percent.

However, Tiangco said the gains are offset by the residents’ refusal to undergo free swab testing.

“We are saddened by the fact that only a few of them are willing to avail of the free test. We will make it mandatory for people mostly working on the streets, like tricycle drivers, jeepney drivers, market vendors and food service workers,” Tiangco said, adding that they have already accepted walk-ins and residents of other cities.

He said that during the lockdown, the city increased its testing capacity from 300 to 2,200 persons per day but only 1,333 availed themselves of the free swab test.

Only 24,004 out of the city’s 267,000 residents have been swabbed so far “and we still (have) a long way to go,” Tiangco said.

He expressed concern that most of the quarantine violators did not wear face masks.

Tiangco said they will still enforce the minimum health protocols to ensure that “we don’t have to go back to where we started.”