Philippines tested 11,000 samples for COVID-19

The number of samples tested for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had reached more than 11,000 as of Friday-March 27, 2020, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

“According to RITM (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine) Dir. Celia Carlos, the total samples tested is 11,466,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told GMA News Online.

The DOH’s COVID-19 tracker as of Friday, however, showed the number of tests conducted at 2,287.

Asked to explain the seemingly contradictory figures, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the tracker counts the number of persons tested and “not the count of tests done.”

Vergeire explained that multiple tests are done on each individual.

“When you are admitted, sometimes doctors would order repeat tests for monitoring purposes,” she said.

The RITM earlier said that only persons under investigation (PUIs) would be tested for COVID-19 confirmation.

“PUI —if with severe cases or those with mild symptoms, and elderly with underlying conditions or pregnant [women],” Vergeire said.

The number of persons infected with the COVID-19 leaped to 803 following the 96 new cases reported by DOH.

Of the confirmed cases, 54 have died while 31 have recovered.

Of the 2,287 tests conducted, 791 had tested negative while 691 had pending results. — DVM, GMA News