Valenzuela LGU to beef up COVID-19 testing capability
Valenzuela LGU to beef up COVID-19 testing capability
CALOOCAN CITY, July 14 (PIA) –To complement localized, targeted COVID-19 testing in the city, the City Government of Valenzuela signs a Memorandum of Agreement with Great Breed Enterprises Company to launch Abbott’s ARCHITECT i1000SR immunoassay analyzer (4th Gen ELISA) in Valenzuela City which can process 130 serology tests (antibody tests) an hour for the two machines.
In a Facebook post, Mayor Rex Gatchalian explained the use Abbott’s Architect laboratory instruments, such as blood samples are drawn from individuals and loaded to the instrument to run and detect whether IgG antibodies and IgM for SARS-CoV-2 are present in the blood of the individuals.
“Compared to the rapid test kits which only have 30% sensitivity and can result in false negatives, the Abbott serology testing machines have 100% sensitivity and 99.6% specificity,” Gatchalian said.
The FDA-approved Abbott serology testing machines are also used by the governments in Canada, USA, Ireland, Australia, Italy, Singapore, and India.
“Aside from the two machines, a Laboratory Information System will also be utilized to help our labs with data analytics and generating reports,” Gatchalian added.
According to the mayor, the City Government of Valenzuela will launch the testing program in the coming weeks, testing first the City Hall employees and the working herd in the industrial sector.
“With the Abbott machines, we can test factory workers and identify who’s vulnerable and who’s not, who has enough immunity to work on-site, guiding the workforce management in their manning schedule,”Gatchalian said. (PIO Valenzuela/PIA-NCR)