MANDALUYONG CITY -- Due to the surging cases of COVID-19 in the country, Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Chairman and CEO Sen. Dick Gordon urges everyone to get tested immediately for early detection of the virus to prevent transmission.

Chairman Gordon also said that even fully vaccinated individuals can still be carriers of the virus and can affect children, senior citizens, and unvaccinated individuals.

“Napakahalaga ng testing dahil dito mo malalaman if mayroon kang COVID-19 o wala. Right now we offer the best-priced RT-PCR test in the country,” Chairman Gordon said.

According to Chairman Gordon, the humanitarian organization is finding more ways to lower its prices to make it even more affordable to the public.

“Pinagaaralan namin yan. Syempre, mayroon tayong gastusin to support our operations. We introduced the Saliva RT-PCR test which is also a gold standard for testing and a lower-priced alternative to Swab RT-PCR test,” Gordon added.

Last September 2, 2021, the Philippine Red Cross announced to the public that RT-PCR tests for swab and saliva prices were reduced by 25%. From Php3,800.00 to Php2,800 for a swab RT-PCR test and Php2,000.00 to Php1500 for a saliva RT-PCR test.

To date, PRC has 14 molecular laboratories nationwide, which have conducted over 5 Million tests accounting for a majotlrity oa all tests nationwide by a wide margin.

PRC molecular laboratories started with the vision of Sen. Dick Gordon, who saw testing as a way to “drain the swamp.” At that time, the country had to rely heavily on the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and a couple of hospitals that could only test for COVID-19 at 300 a day.

“We are number one when it comes to testing sa buong bansa. But more importantly, through our testing, we save millions of lives and prevent others from getting sick kasi madedetect natin agad kung sino ang may Covid at mabilis natin sila ma-isolate,” Chairman Gordon said.

To make testing accessible to people who want to get tested, PRC has an existing partnership with the different shopping centers such as SM Supermalls, Robinsons, Araneta City, and Ayala Malls that serve as saliva collection sites. (Philippine Red Cross )