DOH: Five more labs licensed for COVID-19 testing, total now at 69

There are now 69 laboratories nationwide licensed to conduct independent testing for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after five more received accreditation, the Department of Health (DOH) said Sunday.

In its daily COVID-19 report, the DOH said the country now has 50 accredited polymerase chain reaction (PCR) facilities and 19 GeneXpert laboratories.

The latest PCR laboratories to be certified were the San Miguel Foundation Testing Laboratory, Qualimed Hospital Sta. Rosa, and the Prime Care Alpha COVID-19 Testing Laboratory.

The GeneXpert facilities recently accredited were those of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute and the Sta. Ana Hospital.

There are also 166 other laboratories undergoing the five-step accreditation process, 147 or 89 percent of which are already on Stage 3 or above.

The licensed laboratories have tested 635,395 individuals as of June 27, yielding a positivity rate of 7.05 percent.

Meanwhile, an average of 13,514 samples were processed by 63 laboratories in the past week, 6,947 of which tested positive for COVID-19 for a weekly positivity rate of 7.91 percent.

The Philippines has logged 35,455 COVID-19 cases with 9,686 recoveries and 1,244 deaths as of Sunday afternoon.  — BM, GMA News