In the past few weeks, everyone has been deeply concerned about the alarming number of positive COVID-19 cases. Just yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that the coronavirus disease can now be characterized as a pandemic and assured the public that they will continue to “take urgent and aggressive action”.
On the same day, University of the Philippines (UP) President Danilo L. Concepcion made a public announcement that through the University of the Philippines National Institute of Health (UPNIH), UP Philippine Genome Center Deputy Director Dr. Raul Destura, together with other scientists and researchers from the UPNIH and the PGC, developed “The GenAmplify™ COVID-19 rRT-PCR Detection Kit“.
Message from UP President Danilo L. Concepcion
UP’s response to COVID-19
11 March 2020
Read the message in full: https://t.co/fzjYOpWkkf pic.twitter.com/Z7XXzANyJ5
— University of the Philippines (@upsystem) March 11, 2020
Approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the test kits are designed for fast-track diagnostic testing of patients under investigation (PUI) of COVID-19–with the confirmatory results finished in just two hours. According to Concepcion, the locally produced technology costs Php1,320 per test which is cheaper compared to foreign kits that are worth Php8,500 per test.
Online users took the time to applaud the University of the Philippines and its scientists and researchers for their great work using #SalamatUP. The hashtag soon trended on Twitter. Here are some of the reactions:
and this is why the government must invest and give priority on research, science, and health. Salute to all researchers and scientists, #SalamatUP 🙏🏼💖
— sam #KNOCK (@drsamkang) March 11, 2020
our scholars did that 💜#SalamatUP https://t.co/q2sGlCbux2
— Tala⁷ 💜 (@TalaBangtan) March 11, 2020
https://twitter.com/TeamNationalU/status/1237663413142081536?s=20
https://twitter.com/intheirbehalf/status/1237608842470420480?s=20
#SalamatUP for not giving up on the citizens even if most of them shit on you and demonize you as enemies of the country. As a petty bitch, I would've let them die but y'all are better than that.
— Pawlll (@snark_knight_) March 11, 2020
Once again, there are Filipinos who are ready to protect the well-being of their fellow countrymen, serving with compassion and excellence. Thank you for helping facilitate their research, University of the Philippines!
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