FILE PHOTO: Bases Conversion and Development Authority President and CEO and COVID-19 testing czar Vince Dizon. Noy Morcoso / INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — The government is boosting its COVID-19 testing, aiming to conduct up to 90,000 tests daily amid the alarming COVID-19 upsurge in the country.
Testing czar Vince Dizon on Tuesday said the government will add 30,000 antigen tests per day in order to improve testing capacity.
He also said that daily testings reached an average of 51,000 last week, peaking at 57,000 tests a day.
“Aabot tayo ng anywhere between 80,000 to 90,000 tests per day,” he said in a Palace briefing.
(We will reach anywhere between 80,000 to 90,000 tests per day.)
But Dizon said antigen tests will only be limited to the “NCR Plus bubble” which consists of Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Bulacan, and Laguna since antigen tests should be used in areas with a high prevalence of COVID-19 infection.
He likewise said the Office of Civil Defense aims to procure 500,000 antigen tests to be deployed in NCR Plus bubble, where the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was reimposed from March 29 up to April 4 due to a rapid increase in COVID-9 cases.
A total of 239 testing laboratories are currently operating in the country, he added.