Published on: Wednesday, January 06, 2021
By: PNA
MANILA: President Rodrigo Duterte
(pic) has expressed openness on the use of the saliva-based test for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) which recently garnered a 99 percent detection rate in the United States.
Citing the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), Duterte said the saliva-based test would be a good alternative to the more expensive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
“There’s a new type of test, Gordon said swabbing saliva is 99 percent effective. Then let’s use that instead,” he said late Monday night, referring to PRC Chairman Richard Gordon.
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Earlier, PRC biomolecular laboratories head and former Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said administering the saliva-based tests does not require swab kits, a specimen collector and skilled professional, nor expensive collection vials.