Pakistan’s coronavirus testing capacity has surpassed the 16,000 tests per day mark, says a report issued by World Health Organization (WHO).
As per the daily report issued by WHO on May 8, Pakistan is currently conducting 16,596 coronavirus tests per day, with the help of 58 laboratories across the country.
The report further states that Punjab has 23 testing laboratories with the capacity of conducting 5,810 COVID-19 tests per day, the highest in the country, which is followed by Sindh with 13 laboratories capable of conducting 5,000 tests per day.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has eight, while Islamabad has seven labs with the capacity of 1,788 and 2,756 coronavirus tests per day respectively.
According to the report, Balochistan – the country’s largest the most financially deprived province has only two testing labs capable of conducting 849 on a daily basis.
Furthermore, the federal units, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir have two and three laboratories each, with the testing capacity of 188 and 160 tests per day respectively.
The report however, did not mentioned as to how many of these laboratories are private enterprises.
According to Dr Zafar Mirza – special assistant to Prime Minister on health, had earlier announced that the government intends to increase the testing capacity to 20,000 tests per day.
