5 more labs accredited for COVID-19 testing, total now at 75 —DOH

There are now 75 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 had 55 accredited polymerase chain reaction (PCR) facilities and 20 GeneXpert laboratories.

The latest PCR laboratories to be certified were the Fe del Mundo Medical Center, Health Delivery Systems, San Pablo District Hospital, and the University of the Philippines Los Baños COVID-19 Molecular Laboratory.

The latest GeneXpert facility to be accredited was that of the Amai Pakpak Medical Center.

There were also 173 other laboratories undergoing the five-step accreditation process, 149 or 86 percent of which were on Stage 3 or further in the process.

The licensed laboratories have tested 738,502 individuals as of July 3, yielding a positivity rate of 7.3 percent, higher than the 5-percent target prescribed by the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, an average of 17,652 samples were processed by 70 laboratories in the past week, 10,543 of which tested positive for COVID-19 for a weekly positivity rate of 9.03 percent.

The Philippines has logged 44,254 COVID-19 cases with 11,942 recoveries and 1,297 deaths as of Sunday afternoon. — DVM, GMA News