Kazakhstan has expanded the list of people to be tested for coronavirus, Toppress.kz correspondent reports citing Vice Minister of Healthcare Lyazzat Aktayeva.
Today testing is carried out in 19 laboratories, the capacity of which is about six thousand tests per day. More than 70,000 tests have been processed, which is an average of 80 tests for one identified patient with coronavirus infection. Given the peak of the epidemic is close, mass testing is required. To this end, three mobile and four stationary laboratories have been deployed. We are also planning to launch testing at the ‘Olymp’ laboratories in Nur-Sultan and Almaty, she said.
To ensure the testing covers larger areas to identify hidden coronavirus hotbeds, the amount of people to be tested will be increased up to 10,000 per day. “These are patients with acute respiratory infections, medical workers, employees of various social institutions and life support facilities, food stores, transportation organisations,” Vice Minister noted.
Lyazzat Aktayeva said active rapid testing has also started in Kazakhstan. “To date, 8722 rapid tests have been conducted, of which 889 — at automobile checkpoints, 6809 – in medical organizations and 1025 — at the laboratories of Nur-Sultan and Almaty. As a result, 145 people tested positive, which indicates the presence of antibodies to coronavirus,” she said.
