The country’s coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) testing laboratories have performed an average of 24,695 tests per day in the past week, a health official said Wednesday.
In a Covid-19 virtual presser, Department of Health (DOH) Public Health Service Director Beverly Ho said the laboratories have done a total of 1,193,473 tests to date.
“Last July 17, we have recorded the highest number of tests conducted in (a) single day where we performed 28,395 tests in a day,” Ho said in a mix of Filipino and English.
She added there is a continuous ramp-up in the country’s testing capacity as part of its Covid-19 response.
To date, there are 68 licensed RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) laboratories and 23 licensed GeneXpert laboratories nationwide.
As of July 19, the DOH said there are 19,440 personnel deployed in priority health facilities and Covid-19 response activities
“The DOH also has 334 post-residency deployed physicians and 1,287 redeployed Nurse Deployment Project (NDP) nurses in DOH and LGU hospitals handling Covid-19 cases. In addition, there are 5,239 health personnel hired through the emergency hiring program, 8,687 NDP nurses deployed in their respective communities involved in contact tracing and specimen collection, and 3,893 public health associates who play active roles in contact tracing and surveillance,” Ho added. (PNA)
