Aside from its workforce, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) would rather have all athletes and coaches in the national pool tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) before returning to the playground.
The agency will jump-start the testing on its own employees beginning next week, particularly those assigned at the PSC administration building at Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila, in partnership with the Philippine Red Cross.
Also being considered to undergo a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test are all the national athletes and coaches from over 50 sports.
“No testing, no work. No testing, no play. That’s our direction,” PSC Chair William “Butch” Ramirez said as several sports cautiously rebooted their programs. “Our priority is to keep everybody—athletes, coaches and employees—safe and healthy.”
Testing has been set initially on 100 to 150 PSC employees, almost half of the 350-strong personnel of the agency.