GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Most workers who volunteered to undergo free antigen testing here for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) came out virus-free, with only two of 80 testing positive.
The City Health Office (CHO) reported that two workers from the initial batch came out positive and they were immediately quarantined and subjected to confirmatory reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction testing.
Leonard Flores, head of the City Economic Management and Cooperative Development Office, said the free tests offered by the city government started on June 18.
Some 80 employees from random establishments, mostly in the tourism and food sectors, joined the first leg, while 41 others were tested in the second leg.
“Negative results are indicators of how serious and committed the business organizations are in their strict implementation and compliance to the minimum safety and health protocols inside their workplaces,” Flores said in a report released on Wednesday afternoon.
He said establishments are “very well-guarded and safe” even as the city continues to record increasing cases of Covid-19, with 669 active infections as of June 30.
Flores said the outcome mainly reduced stress and anxiety among employees and customers.
An antigen test detects active infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The test looks for antigens, which are protein markers found on the outside of a SARS-CoV-2 virus. Results are generally known within 30 minutes.
The city government launched the targeted Covid-19 testing in line with Executive Order 48 issued last year by Mayor Ronnel Rivera.
The CHO opened a community-based antigen swab station, the city’s fourth, at the KCC Veranza Mall’s alfresco area for the initiative.
Flores assured that the city government has been “seriously striving and putting in a lot of hard work” to combat Covid-19.
“This active participation of private sectors and establishments has become a significant achievement to contain and stop the further spread of the virus,” he said.
Flores urged more workers and businesses to take part in the project and make their workplace safe from Covid-19.
“We are encouraging all other establishments to participate in this endeavor and be one of the safe establishments in GenSan,” he added
Source: Philippines News Agency
