Zamboanga Norte struggles with blind battle against COVID-19

The Zamboanga del Norte Inter-Agency Task Force (ZN-IATF) is struggling to combat COVID-19 due to a lack of swab testing facilities and specimen processing issues.

Dr. Esmeralda Nadela, ZN-IATF vice chairperson, confirmed that specimens were frozen or put on hold because testing facilities ran out of reagents and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) refused to accept them due to a backlog.

The province has been placed under general community quarantine since mid-March but lacks RT-PCR testing capabilities, leading to uncertainty about the origin and transmission of potential cases.

A Norwegian man with heart disease tested positive on May 4 at St. Luke’s Hospital in Manila, but two subsequent tests were negative.

ZN-IATF traced contacts of the Norwegian case and quarantined 82 individuals; however, they avoided disclosing details about rapid test results for these individuals while promptly announcing a positive rapid test result for a 17-day-old baby from Polanco town.

Lawyer Anecito Young criticized ZN-IATF for having 'double standards' in information dissemination, suggesting that prominent people receive preferential treatment.

Dr. Ruben Arcilla clarified that rapid tests are not official and have low accuracy compared to RT-PCR tests, which remain the basis for confirming COVID-19 cases.