Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said there are 13 (PH218-PH230) new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infected in the country to 230.
She said more patients of the coronavirus disease will be tested after test kits were finally sent to the strategic sub-national laboratories in the provinces.
Vergerie admitted that they are being “challenged” at the moment when it comes to testing COVID patients due to lack of of testing kits, not only in Metro Manila but in different regions of the country.
As of 12 noon on Friday, the case bulletin of the DOH also showed that a 65 -year old Filipino male from Quezon City died of the disease. He had a travel history to Singapore.
Meanwhile, Vergeire said that test kits will now be made available in Southern Philippines Medical Center, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Baguio General Hospital, and some hospitals in Metro Manila.
“We will also check with five hospitals in Metro Manila if we can extend our capacity to them so that we can hasten our testing,” Vergerie said without disclosing yet the hospital.
She said that the sub-laboratories can accommodate at least 10 persons per day.
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration on released an initial list of Covid-19 test kits for commercial use.
“FDA has released an initial list of approved kits with Special Certification. There are still pending applications that are due for evaluation,” Director General Eric Domingo said adding that the list shall be regularly updated.
Domingo said that the test kits are PCR-based regeant kits used in laboratories and not point-of-care or do-it-yourself kits.
Vergerie said the DOH is expecting the arrival of 50,000 testing kits from Jack Ma Foundation, in partnership with the Pacquiao Foundation of Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao, 100,000 from Chila, while some 500 rapid test kits donated by the South Korean government already arrived in the country last Friday.