Philippines has tested 500k for COVID-19, says Galvez

More than half a million individuals have been tested for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the chief implementer of the national plan against the illness announced Friday.

According to Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the country has tested a total of 553,197 people.

"Sa ngayon, at sa kabuuang bilang, meron na tayong naisagawang 553,197 na test sa buong kapuluan. Ito na po 'yung tinatawag na more than half million," Galvez said in a live briefing.

He said the Philippines has also achieved a record-high of almost 15,000 actual tests conducted on June 16.

"And we are looking forward to [increasing] this dramatically once our supply chain will be sold by next week," Galvez said.

The secretary further said that 230,857 RT-PCR test kits, which can test 8,544,282 individuals, would arrive soon.

The PS-DBM will also procure more than 15,000 test kits that can test 1,293,750 more individuals.

"Having all these test kits, we will now be able to test 9,838,032 in total. Meaning, halos 10 million po ang mate-test po natin ngayon," Galvez said.

At present, the country has 46 certified RT-PCR laboratories and 16 GeneXpert laboratories.

On Friday, the Philippines reported  28,459 COVID-19 cases with 7,378 recoveries and 1,130 fatalities. -NB, GMA News