THE National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 and the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (C.O.D.E.) recently held extensive testing in Pangasinan as part of the Test, Trace, Treat (TTT) strategy to detect COVID-19 cases.

Director Pebbles Duque of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), said CODE involves close coordination between and among various agencies of the government and communities across the country.

In coordination with the provincial government, swab testing using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) started on October 19 at the Narciso Ramos gymnasium in Lingayen town.

Priority cases in the three-day free swab testing were persons who had exposure to COVID-19 patients in order to detect cases immediately and provide them with necessary care.

Mark Torres, head of the ACT Team, said swabbed persons were isolated until they received their RT-PCR test results and confirmed patients were quarantined in isolation facilities for 14 days and swabbed again to confirm they have clinically recovered.

To be able to test more, the Oplan Kalinga team joined the Provincial Health Office personnel already conducting swab testing in the different towns.

By October 20, the CODE Team already had 545 persons tested.

Provincial Health Officer Anna Ma. Teresa De Guzman welcomed the national team to join her team that had been doing tests since May.

The scheduled visit of the NTF CODE Team to Pangasinan led by Sec. Carlito Galvez, Jr, chief implementer of the Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), Sec. Vivencio Dizon, chief testing czar and Health Sec. Francisco Duque III with chief contact tracing czar, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, has been postponed due to concerns over Tropical Storm Pepito. (PIA/VHS)

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