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PCR testing: Total of 90,000 tests since March

21 Jun 2020

By Agra Ranasinghe The number of PCR tests that are being conducted per day varies due to different circumstances, said Ministry of Health Consultant Community Physician and Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera. Dr. Samaraweera added that around 90,000 PCR tests have been conducted in total since 18 February. However, Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) Assistant Secretary Dr. Naveen De Zoysa said that at least 2,500 tests should be done per day to control the pandemic as soon as possible. "We have been told that 2,500 tests were being conducted per day. However, we should anyway conduct 2,500 tests per day if we need this pandemic to be controlled. We can't say whether we are at a satisfactory level by considering the number of tests that we have done. Since the beginning, we said the number of tests per day should be increased,” he said. According to the statistics issued by Our World in Data as of 17 June, Afghanistan has conducted over 10,000 tests, Bhutan over 20,000, India over one million, the Maldives over 50,000, Nepal over 100,000, and Pakistan over 900,000.


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