Islamabad: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services (NHS) Dr Zafar Mirza on Monday said that the government would increase its COVID-19 testing capacity and conduct proactive suspected patient assessments in order to prevent local transmissions of the infection, a news source reported.
As per the publication, Mirza said that excessive local transmission needed to be checked and the contagion could be controlled through increasing the number of tests. He further stated that the new approach would be materialized in the provincial and federal capitals.
Mirza said that the country had the capacity to conduct 600,000 tests but it would be increased to one million in the coming days. He said that a total of 27 laboratories were set up for COVID-19 tests and seven more would be established soon. Moreover, he stated that the government would initiate the local manufacturing of personal protective equipment (PPE) and N95 masks to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak.
