DOH eyes COVID-19 testing of 1.5% of PH population by end of July
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said it is eyeing to conduct COVID-19 testing for 1.5 percent of the total Filipino population by the end of July.
In a televised press briefing in Malacañang, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they are hoping that the country will see a continued increase in actual tests done per day to be able to test over 1.65 million by the end of next month.
“Ang atin pong average ay pumapalo na po sa 10,500 to 11,000 a day for output. Hopefully po magtuloy-tuloy para pagdating ng end of July we can reach that we have tested 1.5% of the population,” Vergeire said.
(Our average is about 10,500 to 11,000 a day for output. Hopefully, this will continue, and by the end of July, we can reach 1.5% of the population.)
The government recently failed to reach its target of conducting at least 30,000 actual tests per day by the end of May. It initially aimed to do 8,000 tests daily by the end of April—a target it only reached 10 days later.
The government earlier claimed that it can now conduct 42,000 tests per day as of June.
However, the DOH had explained that the actual COVID-19 tests are done daily ranges between 10,000 to 11,000 due to some operational issues of accredited laboratories.
According to Vergeire, there are currently 59 accredited laboratories nationwide capable of detecting SARS-CoV-2— the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
According to DOH data, the number of cumulative unique individuals tested now stands at 468,681 as of June 13. This is a little over 28 percent of the end-July target.
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For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH Hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
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