RITM eyes 10,000 tests a day; prepares distribution of 900k test kits

MANILA, Philippines — The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) is eyeing at processing about 10,000 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests a day for the next three months as it prepares to distribute 900,000 test kits in accredited facilities nationwide.

National Task Force (NTF) on COVID-19 spokesperson Restituto Padilla said this Wednesday as he expressed readiness in assisting the RITM to process these tests.

“Yung RITM is looking forward to process 10,000 COVID-19 tests a day sa susunod na tatlong buwan, habang ihinahanda nito ang pagdistribute ng mga 900,000 test kits sa lahat ng mga accredited testing facilities sa buong bansa,” Padilla said in a virtual briefing.

(The RITM is looking forward to processing 10,000 COVID-19 tests for the next three months as it prepares to distribute 900,000 test kits to all accredited testing facilities in the country.)

“Tutulungan po ng National Task Force ang RITM sa logistic needs nito upang mapabilis at maayos na maipadala ang mga testing kits sa mga accredited testing centers sa lalong madaling panahon,” he added.

(The National Task Force will help the RITM in its logistics needs to hasten the delivery of testing kits in the accredited testing centers immediately.)

The Department of Health (DOH) earlier said the country’s testing capacity has to reach 8,000 to 10,000 tests a day before the true picture of the COVID-19 pandemic is seen.

The government is set to conduct mass testing on COVID-19 persons under investigation (PUI) and persons and monitoring (PUM) on April 14.

The Philippines so far has 3,870 COVID-19 cases, 182 fatalities and 96 recoveries.