File photo: A vendor at Pritil Public Market gets a free swab test amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tondo, Manila, Philippines, October 8, 2020. Reuters/Eloisa Lopez/File Photo
The Philippines has set a price cap for Covid-19 swab tests amid complaints of exorbitant and wide price disparity, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said.
The price for real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction or RT-PCR test is capped at 5,000 pesos ($104) in private hospitals and 3,800 pesos in government laboratories, Duque said in a briefing. Some testing centers have charged as much as 13,000 pesos for the tests.
The Philippines, which has the second-worst outbreak in Southeast Asia, plans to buy as many as 50 million doses from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said in a separate briefing. U.S.-based Novavax Inc. is another possible vaccine source, he said.
Key Insights