Health Ministry to focus on further expanding PCR testing

The Government is working to increase PCR testing for COVID-19 after it conducted a record 1142 tests yesterday, and aims to bring the number of daily tests past the current 700, the Health Ministry said in a statement today.

Health Services Director General Dr. Anil Jasinghe, said the rapid increase of COVID-19 patient numbers is due to higher levels of testing. He assured contact tracing of new patients was progressing satisfactorily and called on the public not to become unduly panicked by the discovery of new patients.

The Health Ministry will hold discussions with all PCR equipped labs in the country today to further increase testing and has already sought the assistance of four private hospitals to expand PCR testing.

On Thursday, the Health Ministry met with representatives of Asiri, Durdens, Nawaloka and Lanka Hospitals, and it was agreed they would conduct 100 PCR tests each. The Health Ministry earlier said its short term target is to increase tests to 1000 per day.