The Negros Occidental provincial government’s Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital molecular laboratory in Silay City is about to breach the 100,000 mark in the number of COVID-19 tests conducted since June, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said today, November 18.
He said from June 1 to of 4 p.m. today the laboratory has conducted 95,248 COVID-19 tests, with a positivity rate of 3.6 percent from November 1 to 18, a drop from 6 percent earlier.
The TLJPH laboratory conducts an average of 744 COVID-19 tests a day but has an operational capacity of 1,300 per day, he said.
Another molecular laboratory at the Valladolid District Hospital in Valladolid town, that will have robotic equipment, is set to open soon and will be able to conduct an additional 1,000 COVID-19 tests per day, he added.
This will enable molecular laboratories in Negros Occidental to conduct COVID-19 tests for the entire Negros Island, he said.
Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan Tuesday, November 17, approved a P10,003,288 supplemental budget for various COVID-19 related priority programs and activities, SP secretary Maki Ascalon said.
The request for approval of the 2020 General Fund Supplemental Budget No. 8 was made by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson.*