PH close to hitting 1M COVID-19 tests

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is close to hitting its target of conducting one million COVID-19 tests by the end of July, the government’s testing czar said on Monday.

During a Palace briefing, Vince Dizon, deputy chief implementer of the government’s COVID-19 response, said the Philippines so far has 85 coronavirus testing laboratories as of July 12.

“So napakarami na po at napakalaki na po ang ating kapasidad na mag-test. Dahil sa pagtaas ng ating mga laboratoryo, ang ating testing simula nung buwan ng Mayo ay halos aabot na tayo ng isang milyong tests as of July 11,” he said.

(So our capacity to test continues to grow. With the increase of laboratories, the tests we have conducted since the month of March are close to one million as of July 11).

“Siguro sa mga susunod na araw ay lalagpas na tayo sa one million tests (In the coming days, we will be able to conduct more than one million tests),” he added.

“Kung maaalala niyo po ito po ang taget na sinet nung nakaraang buwan na by the end of July, isang milyon na po ang tests natin. Ngayon po ay wala pang kalahati ng buwan ng Hulyo ay nasa isang milyon na, papunta na po tayo sa nasabing target,” he further said.

(If you remember, this was the target we set last month that by the end of July, we will be able to conduct one million tests. It’s not even the mid-July and we are already nearing one million, we are close to our target).

The Philippines is also close to hitting its target to conduct 30,000 daily COVID-19 tests, Dizon said.

On Monday, the Philippines’ COVID-19 tally surpassed 56,000 cases after the Department of Health reported 2,124 new infections nationwide, along with 2,009 patient recoveries and 162 deaths.

EDV