DOH: Conducting 32,000 COVID-19 tests per day possible if lab supplies are enough

Conducting 32,100 COVID-19 tests per day can only be done if there is no shortage of supplies and equipment in the accredited laboratories, the Department of Health said Monday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire clarified that the daily testing capacity mentioned by presidential spokesperson Harry Roque refers to estimated maximum capacity of all the licensed laboratories in the country.

Earlier in the day, Roque said that the government has met and even surpassed its May 30 target of reaching 30,000 COVID-19 testing capacity per day.

“The 32,000 [COVID-19 tests per day] is the estimated maximum capacity of all licensed labs in the country based on the number of machines, number of human resources, and the operating hours per laboratory," Vergeire said when asked by reporters.

“This [figure] does not include yet the factors that may affect the operations of each laboratory,” she added.

“Factors that may affect operations include availability of lab supplies in the market, health human resource issues, equipment issues, and issues in infrastructure.”

Vergeire cited the situation of the laboratories in Bicol and the University of the Philippines National Institute of Health which operations were affected by typhoon Ambo, and the laboratory of the Philippine Red Cross which equipment were also affected due to drips in the ceiling of the building during the recent typhoon.

“32,000 is the testing capacity based on existing resources. What we use is the estimated capacity and the actual capacity of laboratories. Yes it is also the potential [testing capacity] if you like to use that, but we will stick with our terms to avoid confusion,” she added.

Vergeire, however, assured the public that the government will work overtime to conduct 32,000 COVID-19 tests in two weeks with the accreditation of additional laboratories which process the test results.

“We have assigned specific teams to focus on laboratories which are on the stage 3 and 4 of the licensing process so we can guide them and expedite their licensing in the next two weeks,” she said.

“We have identified 17 laboratories possible to be licensed in the next two weeks. Included here would be two labs from PRC which has a huge capacity for testing,” she added.

Likewise, Vergeire said the Health department will provide automated extraction machines which can lessen processing time of samples by four hours per run as well as additional Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) machines in some of the labs.

“Hopefully, with these efforts, we will be able to expand capacity and reach that target,” Vergeire added.

She said the country now has at least 42 DOH-licensed laboratories and 34 RT PCR machines.

The government recently drew flak after Roque said that the government will not pay for mass testing of employees returning to work amid eased quarantine rules which took effect last May 16.

Vergeire said the government is not conducting mass testing because it is practicing expanded targeted testing to focus the country’s limited resources on testing symptomatic and those who have exposure to COVID-19 patients.

The Philippines has recorded 13,777 COVID-19 cases so far. Of this number, 3,177 recovered while 863 died. —AOL, GMA News