MANILA -- The Department of Health (DOH) will open additional laboratories that can test specimens from persons under investigation (PUIs) for possible coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), a Health official said Monday.
"Nung nakita na natin 'yung surge sa (When we saw the surge in the) number of specimens being provided or sent to RITM (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine), the (DOH) Secretary has instructed that we activate now our subnational laboratories," Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a press conference at the DOH main office.
Vergeire said there would be five subnational laboratories strategically located in Davao, Cebu, Northern part of Luzon and big hospitals in Metro Manila.
She added the laboratories are expected to help the RITM in providing test results in a quicker manner.
"We're just completing their requirements at the moment. Nagbigay tayo ng mga logistics tapos po ay nanghihingi rin tayo ng tulong from our partners para mabuo na ang mga pangangailangan nila (We've provided logistics and we've requested for help from our partners in order to complete their needs), hopefully in the next two weeks they'll be fully functional and we could start with the testing," Vergeire said.
Earlier, the DOH reported that the RITM has enough testing kits to last the current Covid-19 episode.
“The RITM has 1,500 kits, more than enough for the current PUIs, and fresh shipment of 1,500 kits from the World Health Organization will arrive in the coming days, bringing to 3,000 the total of test kits on standby," the DOH said.
As of 12 noon of Feb.17, there are 171 PUIs admitted in various health facilities nationwide.
Meanwhile, a total of 350 patients have been discharged.
About 453 PUIs tested negative of the disease, only 22 cases of pending test results, and the remaining patients yet to submit specimen for testing. (PNA)
