Some 1,365 public school teachers in this city have undergone free rapid testing in preparation for the opening of classes set on Oct. 5.

“We can accommodate the test, we have a budget for testing. This is the city’s support to make sure that before the teachers go back to the schools, everybody will have peace of mind in terms of the health and safety of the teachers,” said Mayor Marc Brian Lim in an interview on Tuesday.

The city partnered with the Dagupan Doctors Villaflor Memorial Hospital (DDVMH) which has its own reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) molecular laboratory.

Lim said the Elecsys anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay test was the one used in the rapid testing conducted on Tuesday.

“Through the blood samples drawn, this test will check for antibodies if the person had prior, or possibly currently have the virus. If a person is reactive, he or she will be subjected to an RT-PCR swab test for confirmatory,” he said.

In a separate interview, Ma. Linda Ventenilla, Dagupan’s school governance and operations chief, thanked Lim and the city government for the free mass testing for teachers, which is also part of the division’s “safe back to school activities”. (PNA)