Government reports more than half of COVID-19 tests conducted in the country was contributed by private sector

• The remaining 34% are shared by tests from RITM and other government agencies.
• Earlier this week, Harry Roque said that the mass testing will be in the hands of private businesses as the government still has no plans of doing such.

The private sector has accounted for most of the COVID-19 tests in the country, the government reported on May 19.

Coronavirus Plan deputy chief implementer Vivencio Dizon released data at a Senate hearing which says that a total of 11,123 tests have been conducted on May 14, more than half or about 66% of which was contributed by the private sector.

45% was accounted for by the Philippine Red Cross while 21% was from private firms.

On the other hand, for the government’s share of 34%, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) contributed 16% while other government agencies shared 18%.

Dizon, however, failed to release cumulative data showing the number of tests conducted by the government and private sector since the testing started in March.

Earlier this week, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that the government still has no plans to carry out mass testing and that the authorities will leave such efforts in the hands of private businesses.

“As much as possible, ini-increase natin ang capacity ng testing kaya nga we’re aiming na aabot tayo sa 30,000 (a day), pero in terms sa mass testing na ginagawa ng Wuhan na all 11 million (residents), wala pa pong ganyang programa at iniiwan natin ‘yan sa pribadong sektor,” he said in a Palace briefing.

Later on, he denied implying such and said that his speech was taken out of context by CNN Philippines.