ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has increased its coronavirus testing capacity to over 16,000 tests a day as the country reaches closer to its goal of carrying out 20,000 tests daily this month.
According to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the country’s total testing capacity currently stands at 16,596. Per the report, Pakistan has 58 functional laboratories, the majority of which, 23, are in Punjab.
Punjab, notes the WHO, has a capacity to conduct 5,810 tests per day. With 13 labs, Sindh trails behind with a capacity of 5,000 tests. Islamabad has seven labs and can carry out 2,756 tests in a day. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has eight labs and a capacity of 1,788 tests per day. On the contrary, Balochistan has only two laboratories with a capacity to conduct 894 tests per day.
As for the administrative units, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K), they have two and three labs with a capacity of 188 and 160 tests, respectively.
Last month, Dr Zafar Mirza, the prime minister’s special assistant on health, has announced that Pakistan would be enhancing its testing capacity to 20,000 tests daily by the end of April.
