Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told President Rodrigo Duterte that the investigation on the alleged false positive COVID-19 results of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) will be completed next week.

"The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine is presently conducting an investigation, and they will release a report, and will complete their investigation, Mr. President by October 8," Duque said during the taped Talk to The People on Monday night.

"By October 8 the result of the investigation will be out and I will share it with you," the health secretary told Duterte.

Duque said the steps in the investigation involve processing of laboratory records, processing of case investigation reports, remote verification, and the troubleshooting proficiency test panel to all concerned laboratories.

"Let’s just wait because the process of their investigation is complicated because it requires a highly technical process," he said.

It can be recalled that in his previous Talk to The People, Duterte ordered Duque to conduct an investigation on the false positive Covid-19 RT PCR results of PRC, as he noted that 44 out of 49 people who tested positive in the PRC in Subic turned to be negative in a confirmatory testing by other laboratory.

Duque explained that the persons who were tested positive in the PRC Logistics and Training Center in Subic took a confirmatory testing at the Medical City Clark Laboratory which confirmed that only five out of the 49 people were positive for COVID-19.

"Only five were tested positive so it is just 10 percent compared to 100 percent (based on the result of PRC)," he said. Robina Asido/DMS