104 COVID-19 test kits now available for commercial use in PH
MANILA, Philippines — There are now 104 COVID-19 test kits available for commercial use in the Philippines after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved 11 more testing kits—four polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based kits and seven antibody rapid test kits.
The newly-approved kits are from China, Korea, the United States, Ireland, and Turkey.
Of the total number of approved test kits, only one came from the Philippines—the GenAmplify™ Corona Virus 2019 (COVID-19) rRT PCR Detection kit which was manufactured by Manila HealthTek, Inc.
It was developed in collaboration with the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) and the University of the Philippines – National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH) with support from the DOST – Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD).
However, the Department of Health announced last week that the UP-NIH had recalled the first locally-made coronavirus test kits over “very minor” defects.
Below is the complete list of FDA-approved COVID-19 test kits as of May 22:
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For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH Hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
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