Project Balik Buhay – Rapid Mass Testing in Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu
Project Balik Buhay campaign has set almost 50,000 individual blood samples taken as a rapid mass testing in the cities of Cebu, Mandau and Lapu-Lapu starting yesterday May 4, 2020. The province of Cebu is known to have the most cases in the Visayas.
Project Balik Buhay
The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) together with the tri-cities of Cebu has collaborated with the Department of Health (DOH-7). This 10-day strategic rapid mass testing from the three cities will be conducted by the Local Government Units (LGUs) and partnered private sectors. The meeting was held last May 3, 2020.
As of May 2, 2020, Region 7 already had 990 cases. Cebu City has the highest record with 875 cases. Lapu-Lapu has the second-highest number of cases with 34, followed by Mandaue with 29. At least 27 cases have been reported in Cebu province, while Negros Oriental and Bohol have four and one, respectively. The Department of Health-Central Visayas (DOH 7) also reported that 17 repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and three health workers have tested positive for the virus.
When we do this, we should expect a rise in positive cases given that the virus is highly transmissible. We fear that possibility but it should not be a cause for panic. Knowing our status is a step towards a solution and is way better than fighting this disease blindly,” said DOH-7 Regional Director Dr. Jaime Bernadas.
This program aims to identify the COVID-19 cases in the three cities at the community level as well as to effectively cohort the individuals in order to impede the transmission of the virus. It involves a systematic testing of individuals at the barangay level with the use of FDA-approved rapid test kits as a conduit to PCR testing, as well as the establishment of Barangay Isolation Centers in public schools across the cities and we also have the old Sacred Heart School Bayanihan Field Center, the IEC Bayanihan Field Center and the Cebu City Quarantine Center,” said Bernadas.
