Some 450 tricycle and jeepney drivers and operators randomly selected were tested here on Thursday with a rapid antibody test for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

In a Facebook post on Thursday, the city’s Public Information Office (PIO) said of the total number, 300 are tricycle drivers while the 150 are jeepney drivers and operators.

“Mayor Brian Lim ordered the expanded Covid-19 testing to identify positive cases, isolate, and treat them, and trace their contacts for the city to stem the spread of the Covid-19,” the PIO said.

Prior to the random testing, some 178 city government front-liners from Public Order and Safety Office, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Philippine National Police Dagupan City Police Station (PNP-DCPS) underwent the same test for Covid-19 on Wednesday.

The PIO said the city government has also started random testing at the city’s public markets last week.

Other high-risk individuals in the city have been scheduled for testing in the coming days, it said.

“The city’s expanded Covid-19 testing program, which started in March 2020, has tested more than 5,000 individuals, the first time that a Covid-19 testing program of this scale was implemented by a local government unit in the Ilocos Region,” it added. (PNA)