MANDALUYONG CITY -- The Department of Health (DOH) now includes the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) RT- PCR Saliva test in all official laboratory results done in the Philippines.

PRC under the leadership of its Chairman and CEO Sen. Richard Gordon, is the leading organization for COVID-19 testing. PRC is the only organization approved by the DOH to conduct saliva RT-PCR tests in the country.

The saliva RT-PCR test which is a cheaper, faster, and non-invasive test for COVID-19 is PCR based which is considered the gold standard for COVID-19 testing according to the World Health Organization.

PRC now has tested a total of 3,307,946 that makes up 23% of the total tests done nationwide, while Detoxicare and RITM only tested 831,191 and 534,472 respectively. PRC also partnered with the different shopping malls through its drive-thru collection sites to make it accessible to more people who want to get tested for COVID-19.

“We now have a total of 13 molecular laboratories capable of testing 46 thousand tests per day. As we expand our testing capacity, PRC will soon establish a new molecular laboratory in Cotabato to serve the city and its nearby provinces. The more people we test, the faster we can beat the virus. In this way, people can now safely go back to work and to their schools and we can open up the economy,” Chairman Gordon said.

The PRC molecular laboratory in Subic recently celebrated its first anniversary where Chairman Gordon and other PRC officials attended virtually to show their support. (Philippine Red Cross)