Dizon says gov't reached 1M COVID-19 tests but number still not enough

The government's chief testing czar in the fight against COVID-19, Vince Dizon, on Tuesday said the number of tests done has reached 1 million although this is still not enough.

“As of today we hit 1 million,” Dizon said in a press conference in Taguig City. “Pero, still it's not enough. It's just a start. It's reflective of the challenges we face in the first couple of months.”

Dizon earlier said the government sought to reach a million tests by July, as it targets 10 million tests in 10 months.

With a target of 30,000 tests daily, Dizon said the government had reached already 25,000 tests a day on July 9.

During the press conference, Dizon commended the mayors of National Capital Region, where 15,000 to 16,000 of the daily tests came from. He described the testing in NCR as aggressive.

“Kung hindi ka magte-test, papabayaan mo na lang silang nandiyan sa communities. Hindi nila alam nakakahawa na sila dahil hindi nila alam na may sakit na sila,” he said.

“So, very important ‘yun.”

Dizon said at least 85 COVID-19 testing laboratories are operating in the country, unlike in the first weeks of the pandemic when only the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) could conduct the tests. —KBK, GMA News