MANILA - The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) is awaiting approval from government for its saliva COVID-19 test, its chairman Sen. Richard Gordon said Sunday.

The non-government organization coordinated with the University of Illinois, where the test was made, and the UP College of Medicine in conducting a validation study on the new coronavirus test, Gordon said.

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"Wala pang 4 na oras, tapos na agad, malalaman natin kung positive o negative ka," he told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.

(In less than 4 hours, we can already know if you're positive or negative for the virus.)

"Gagamitin pa rin natin ang (RT)-PCR. Ninety-six plates sabay-sabay ite-test every 2 hours ng PCR. Bukod sa mas mabilis, magmumura tayo."

(We will still use RT-PCR. We will test 96 plates along with PCR every 2 hours. Besides being faster, it's cheaper.)

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The PRC has so far conducted more than 1 million coronavirus tests since the pandemic began to spread, Gordon said.