Thanks to a generous donation from San Miguel Corporation, the Philippines will soon be doubling its testing capacity for COVID-19.
(Lung Center Reports Zero COVID-19 Infections of Personnel After 1 Month)
The Department of Health announced this Wednesday the donation of machines and test kits by SMC to the Philippine government. In a ceremony at the DOH’s headquarters in Mandaluyong, SMC President Ramon Ang turned over 5 sets of coronavirus testing machines and 20,000 test kits.
Each set of testing machines consists of two reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rtPCR) machines and one automated ribonucleic acid (RNA) extraction machine.
According to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) Director Celia Carlos, the donation increases the capacity of tests from 4,500 to 9,500 per day. The machines will be working in full force by next week, which is when we can expect more tests to be conducted.
Altogether, the new machines are capable of conducting 5,000-10,000 tests daily. The DOH is therefor using the conservative estimate in saying testing capacity will simply be doubled.
“It comes as a complete set. It comes with the swabbing. Eto yung pangkuha ng sample. It comes with the transport UTM, universal transport media. It comes with the enzyme. Kumpleto na,” Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje told CNN Philippines.
“It will be faster because of the automation. So that is why we appreciate the donation.”
The Philippine government aims to conduct 28,000 tests daily.
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