Philippines exceeds 1M COVID-19 tests but more needed

The government's chief testing czar, Vince Dizon, announced on Tuesday that over 1 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the Philippines, though he emphasized this is still insufficient.

Dizon highlighted that the country aims to reach 10 million tests within ten months and has already surpassed its July target of one million tests.

He praised local government units for their aggressive testing efforts, particularly in the National Capital Region (NCR), where around 15,000 daily tests are conducted.

Dizon noted that the number of RT-PCR testing laboratories increased from 85 to over 1 million tests as of July 12th, with a target of reaching 30,000 daily tests.