MANILA, Philippines --- The City of Manila is now capable of conducting localized mass targeted testing for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), at a rate of more than 1,000 swab tests per week.

"The Manila city government is now capable of conducting more than a thousand COVID-19 swab tests a week as it begins its localized targeted mass testing operations in the nation's capital," the local government unit announced on its twitter account.

According to the Manila Public Information Office (PIO) on Monday, six district hospitals and the Delpan quarantine facility can conduct 232 tests per day, or a total of 1,624 tests a week.

Hospitals that can conduct COVID-19 swab tests are Ospital ng Maynila, Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, Sta. Ana Hospital, Ospital ng Sampaloc, Ospital ng Tondo, and Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital.

All swab tests will be processed either by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine or the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital, according to the Manila PIO.

"Dr. Gap Legaspi, UP-PGH Director, has committed to the Manila city government that they can release the results in two to three days," the local government unit said in a tweet.

So far, about 934 swab tests have already been conducted by the city government.

It added that the move is in line with the CODE (Contain and Delay) COVID-19 action plan of Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso, aimed at  containing the spread of the disease.

Hospitals operated by the city government are now likewise authorized to send COVID-19 patients to the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, which was recently turned into a quarantine site by the national government.

Manila City Health Officer Dr. Arnold Pangan said the local government will refer three COVID-19 patients to the facility on Monday, April 13.

As of 5p.m. on Saturday, the City of Manila has 305 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of this number, 38 have died while 25 have recovered.

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