Philippines now has 30 licensed COVID-19 testing centers – DOH
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) announced Tuesday that the Philippines now has 30 laboratories nationwide that are capable of detecting SARS CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
This comes after DOH approved the accreditation of the Asian Hospital and Medical Center and Allegiant Regional Care Hospital to conduct real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.
There are now 28 licensed RT-PCR laboratories in the country, according to DOH, since the Lung Center of the Philippines and Zamboanga City Medical Center were designated as GeneXpert rapid testing facilities.
GeneXpert test kits can reportedly provide results after 45 minutes — way faster than the RT-PCR test which has a turnaround time of at least 24 hours.
DOH also reported that there are 64 laboratories that are in Stage 3 and Stage 4 of its five-stage accreditation process.
The government earlier said it is eyeing to have a total of 78 COVID-19 testing laboratories by the end of May in order to reach its 30,000 tests a day goal.
Nationwide, there are 11,350 confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease 2019, including 2,106 recoveries and 751 deaths as of May 12.
KGA
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For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH Hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
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