Some 350 randomly-selected market vendors, workers, stevedores, dealers, wholesale buyers and delivery crews in the public markets here will undergo a coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) testing on July 22.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the city’s Public Information Office (PIO) said the testing is offered by the city government for free to the vulnerable individuals and critical sectors in the city.

“This is in accordance to the directive of Mayor Marc Brian Lim to give priority to the testing of workers in highly-vulnerable industries like banks, fast-food restaurants, tricycle drivers, market vendors, for the city to have an idea on how the virus spreads and how to contain it,” the PIO said.

The PIO cited Dr. Ophelia Rivera, the city’s Covid-19 focal person, reporting that two market helpers in the city’s public markets from the first batch of individuals who underwent rapid testing yielded positive result but they were negative in the confirmatory reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT -PCR) test.

Meanwhile, some of the 450 tricycle and jeepney drivers and operators who were also tested on July 16 have been reactive in the rapid test but were also negative in the RT-PCR confirmatory test.

On Monday, some 165 city government front-liners from the Public Order and Safety Office, Anti-Hawking Division, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Philippine National Police Dagupan City Police Station, and other high-risk industries were swabbed for Covid-19 testing.

“The specimens will be sent to the Philippine Red Cross for processing using the RT-PCR test,” the PIO said.

It added the city’s Covid-19 testing program that started in March 2020 has already tested over 5,000 individuals. (PNA)