Testing is still vital in fight against COVID-19, public health advocates tell DOH
Testing is still vital in fight against COVID-19, public health advocates tell DOH
By JOHN PAUL NACION
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – A group of public health advocates is calling on the Department of Health to revisit its proposed shift in the country’s pandemic response, where testing and contact tracing will no longer be a priority even as the number of new COVID-19 infections continue to soar.
Earlier this week, the health department said it would be “shifting” its strategy away from detecting and tracing cases and would instead focus on so-called “impactful activities” such as monitoring of patients who are in home isolation, to name a few. Detecting and tracing cases, health officials added, are “impractical” and a “waste of resources.”
“Contact tracing is not that much prioritized anymore because we know in each household, the possibility or the likelihood that there is one positive individual is very high,” Health Undersecretary Ma Rosario Vergeire told the media in a briefing.
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