PGC only sequencing less than 1%; Bayan calls on gov’t to increase funding, manpower

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) has called on the government to allocate more funding to the Philippine Genome Center amid the surge of COVID-19 cases and the looming presence of various variants of concern in the country.

In an interview on Abante’s Balitaan at Kumustahan, Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes mentioned the country’s capacity when it comes to genome sequencing.

“Sinasabi naman ng Department of Health at ng PGC, kahit sila aminado na delayed yung labas ng confirmation ng mga Delta variant kasi nga limitado lang ang kapasidad ng Philippine Genome Center, 750 samples lang per week ang kailangan nilang i-process so nagkakaroon talaga ng backlog,” he said.

Reyes asked how the variants would be detected if not for the PGC who only has a limited capacity.

He said the situation now is that only less than one percent of the one million COVID-19 cases this year were sequenced by the PGC.

“So hindi mo talaga makikita kung saaan kumakalat na yung Delta variant kasi hindi mo naman nache-check yung sequencing ng mga COVID samples,” he stated.

“Dapat yan palakasin pa natin, pondohan, dagdagan ng kagamitan at personnel para mapalawak nila yung output nila kaugnay ng genomic sequencing para matutukoy talaga kung gaano na kumakalat ang Delta variant,” he explained.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)