INDIVIDUALS who are neither healthcare workers, senior citizens, nor people with comorbidities are no longer mandated to get tested for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) despite developing mild symptoms or are identified as close contacts of confirmed cases.
In an online townhall forum on late Wednesday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire announced that only members of the A1 (healthcare workers), A2 (senior citizens), and A3 (people with comorbidities) sectors are required to undergo testing if they develop symptoms or are identified as close contacts of infected persons.
“Testing shall be recommended and prioritized for instances where result of testing will affect the clinical management. The RT-PCR testing shall be prioritized to A1, A2, A3 individuals,” said Vergeire.
“Testing shall now be optional for community-level actions. Specifically, testing should not be required,” she added.
Under the new policy, the health official said the general population exposed to COVID-19 cases but have no symptoms will only need to undergo quarantine and do self-monitor if they will develop symptoms.
Vergeire said the general population that developed mild COVID-19 symptoms will just need to isolate, undergo home care, and engage in telemedicine.
On the other hand, she said healthcare workers exposed to positive individuals or have developed symptoms need to get tested to determine the steps to be undertaken to ensure adequate health systems capacity.
Vergeire also said senior citizens and people with comorbidities exposed to positive individuals or have developed symptoms will still need to get tested to determine the needed treatment methods.
And given the new policy, she said the premium given to contact tracing will no longer be the same.
“At this point, wherein we already have community transmission, contact tracing is not recommended as a priority intervention,” said Vergeire.
This was ably backed by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who said it would be a waste of valuable resources to continue contact tracing amid the high level of transmission.
“When there is a widespread community transmission, and it is sustained, it’s impractical to do contact tracing,” he said in a television interview.
“You’ll be wasting a lot of resources doing contact tracing when you know the cases are already on an upswing, accelerating, and more and more communities are being infected,” added Duque.
The shift in testing protocols comes amid the high volume of people looking to get tested for COVID-19.
Such a predicament has already resulted to longer turnaround times in getting the RT-PCR test results from the laboratories.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the introduction of self-administered antigen test kits will be helpful to decongest testing centers.
In a televised public briefing, FDA Officer-In-Charge Director Oscar Gutierrez said: “It will be helpful as individuals with symptoms will already be able to know if they have COVID-19 or just ordinary flu. They won’t need to go to testing centers anymore,” said Gutierrez.
He, however, stressed that the public must make sure that what they will use are registered with the FDA.
Currently, only Clearbridge Medical Philippines, Inc. and MOHS Analytics, Inc. have applied for special certification of self-administered antigen test kits and are undergoing evaluation.
In addition, Gutierrez also said it is important for the public to observe the guidelines set to be issued by the Department of Health (DOH) regarding the use of the self-administered antigen kits.
He said this is in order to ensure that such test kits will be properly used and its results accurately interpreted.
Likewise, Vergeire said not only healthcare workers (HCWs) but the general population will now need to complete a shorter period for isolation and quarantine, if they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Vergeire announced that the government is shortening the isolation and quarantine period for all fully vaccinated individuals.
Under the new isolation protocol for COVID-19 cases, fully vaccinated individuals that are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms only need to isolate for seven days.
On the other hand, the partially vaccinated or unvaccinated ones with mild symptoms or are asymptomatic will still need to isolate for 10 days.
However, for COVID-19 patients that are moderate cases, they will need to isolate for 10 days regardless of the vaccination status.
Similarly, for COVID-19 cases that are severe, critical, and are immunocompromised, they will still need to undergo isolation for 21 days regardless of vaccination status.
Under the new quarantine protocols for close contacts, fully vaccinated individuals will only need to quarantine for five days as compared to the previous seven days.
But for partially vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, they will still have to undergo quarantine for 14 days.
All close contacts are, however, required to continuously monitor possible symptoms for 14 days.
The DOH said all close contacts must strictly adhere to the minimum public health standards.
But while the DOH already allowed shorter quarantine and isolation protocols, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) will be sticking to the old guidelines.
In a radio interview, NKTI Executive Director Dr. Rose Marie Rosete-Liquete said they have decided to retain the longer quarantine period for their healthcare workers.
“We know that the virus spreads fast. And, for the protection of our patients, who are immunocompromised, we did not follow the five days,” said Liquete.
“For us, they will still be quarantined for seven days and then get a swab test. Swab test is mandatory. So seven days is the minimum,” she added.
‘MATURE’ OUTBREAKS
While the National Capital Region (NCR) is already experiencing a “severe” outbreak of COVID-19 cases, several highly urbanized cities (HUCs) outside it are also seeing accelerating numbers.
In a social media post, OCTA Research fellow Guido David pointed how they have observed different levels of outbreaks in the cities of Baguio, Angeles, and Santiago, which he said can already be considered as having “mature” stages of the outbreak.
This after they registered “severe” levels of reproduction rates and “very high” average daily attack rates Baguio City (4.92; 39.48); Angeles City (5.59; 26.65); and Santiago City (4.81; 25.23).
David said the cities of Naga, Dagupan, Lucena, Olongapo, Iloilo, and Lapu Lapu are now on the “accelerating” stages of the outbreak.
This after they registered “severe” levels of reproduction rates and “high” average daily attack rates Naga City (6.26; 24.04); Dagupan City (4.98; 19); Lucena City (5.03; 18.95); Olongapo City (4.44; 16.49); Iloilo City (4.81; 15.31); and Lapu Lapu City (5.18; 15.23).
He also said that they have observed the “early” stages of the outbreak in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, and Davao.
This after they registered “severe” levels of reproduction rates and “moderate” average daily attack rates Cagayan de Oro City (4.42; 5.52); Cebu City (5.40; 8.36); and Davao City (4.13; 4.75).
Meanwhile, the NCR remains to be at “severe” outbreak level as it registered a 4.23 reproduction rate and 111.80 ADAR.
