The Office of the Vice President allocated P5 million to help in the establishment of the laboratory, which seeks to speed up testing of suspected COVID-19 cases in the city, as well as the identification, isolation, and treatment of confirmed cases. Currently, the local government of Naga can only submit a limited number of swab samples to the local RT-PCR laboratory, which also caters to other LGUs.

This is part of the OVP’s COVID-related initiatives, which has included, over the past months, various assistance for frontliners and communities. To support testing efforts, the office previously donated test kits to several major hospitals in Metro Manila, as well as to the local governments of Iloilo Province, Iloilo City, Lanao del Sur, and Muntinlupa City.