ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Affairs Dr Zafar Mirza has said that they have decided to establish more laboratories to improve COVID-19 testing capacity in the country.
Addressing a presser on Tuesday, along with Federal Minister Asad Umar, Mirza said that the new laboratories would be set up especially in areas where more people could access them, adding that 32 laboratories will be performing COVID-19 tests soon.
Mirza further said that other than laboratories, the country also needs health experts and certain chemicals to improve testing process.
He also announced that the number of laboratories for coronavirus screening will be increased to 40 across the country, he added that the plan is to achieve labs testing targets by April 15.
Zafar Mirza said that increase in testing laboratories will identify COVID-19 hot spots in the country. He said adding that Pakistan was currently testing 163 people out of a million.
The special assistant said India is currently testing 50 people per million as compared to 94 and 8019 people undergoing tests in Iran and South Korea respectively, he added.
He said that the National Disaster Management Authority has devised a mechanism to provide personal protective gear to doctors and healthcare staff across the country.
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said the country’s COVID-19 testing capacity will be increased to 25,000 tests per day by the end of April.
Umar said more than 3,000 tests were conducted across the country over the past three days, adding that the government is determined to increase the COVID-19 testing capacity. He said that the authorities were considering concrete measures to control the epidemic situation in the country.
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