With the aim of increasing the molecular diagnosis of COVID-19, Peruvian Health Minister Victor Zamora on Monday inaugurated the expansion of the new specialized and exclusive laboratory for the processing of samples at Lima's
, which can now process up to 6,000 of them on a daily basis.
"This new laboratory has the capacity to
process up to 6,000 samples daily, which will allow us to strengthen the work, the network of laboratories and supplies nationwide, thus expanding the COVID-19 diagnostic capacity throughout the country," he expressed.
The Health Minister —who was accompanied by Deputy Public Health Minister Nancy Zerpa— said that during the pandemic, not only financial, technological, human, logistical resources, medicines and supplies have been used to assist the population. Peru also made progress in terms of science and technology.
"There is currently a network of 12 laboratories. We rely on an important endowment of supplies, 250,000
molecular tests with the expectation of having 450,000 in the shortest period of time," he underlined.
The minister also explained that diagnostic capacity is being expanded at the local level with the intervention of rapid response teams for diagnosis and processing capacity.
At the start of the pandemic, there was a single laboratory with a capacity for 500
tests per day. Over the recent 90 days, the efforts to expand the capacity nationwide have not stopped.
Zamora pointed out that the INS research department has participated in the global scientific research network, identifying the virus genome in Peru and collaborating in the development of the vaccine worldwide, with efforts to obtain its own molecular technology.