Now that’s progress!
Screencapped from DOH Press Conference Video on Facebook
Related Story: 125,000 coronavirus test kits to arrive in PH on March 21
In a press conference held last Saturday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire announced that the Philippines is now ready to conduct 1,000 tests for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) daily. This is due to several sub-national laboratories that have become operational, which adds to the average 600 tests that the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) already conducts daily.
https://www.facebook.com/PTVph/videos/352394229014628/
In addition, three sub-laboratories can conduct 100 tests each, while the last laboratory can take 50 tests a day, bringing the total average daily count to about 950 to 1,000. Seniors, pregnant women, and those with severe cases will be prioritized for the testing.
Vergeire also made the assurance that at this time, the number of kits that were donated to them is enough. She also added that it will take 2 weeks to analyze whether the enhanced community quarantine was effective in preventing the COVID-19 pandemic from spreading,
The Enhanced Community Quarantine that was imposed by President Rodrigo Duterte on the entire Luzon was implemented on March 16, 2020. Since only a week has passed, there are still no conclusive results to date.
As of this writing, there are now 380 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country— 73 of which were just announced on March 22, along with 15 recoveries.
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