By Analou De Vera
The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said that the Singaporean government donated 5,000 test kits for the detection of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Health Assistant Secretary Maria Vergeire (Facebook)
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the test kits that were received still need to be validated before they will be distributed to the different laboratories in the country.
"Nakatanggap tayo ng 5,000 test kits mula sa pamahalaan ng Singapore na kinakailangan pang i-validate alinsunod sa tamang accreditation at protocols ng ating national reference laboratory (We have received 5,000 test kits from the government of Singapore that we still need to validate in accordance to the correct accreditation and protocols of our national reference laboratory)," said Vergeire.
“Maaasahan po natin na ang mga kits na ito ay mava-validate sa mga susunod na araw at agarang ipamamahagi sa ating mga subnational laboratories (Expect that these kits will be validated in the coming days and will be distributed immediately in our subnational laboratories),” she added.
Vergeire also added that 3,800 test kits are currently being distributed to the different subnational laboratories. Of the said figure, 1,300 kits came from the World Health Organization, 2,000 kits were donated from China, while 500 kits were from the Udenna Foundation in South Korea.
"We also have 4,167 testing kits from China that can process 100,000 tests and these are currently being distributed to our laboratories," she concluded.