Saudi labs can conduct 53,000 COVID-19 tests daily

Test kit to detect novel COVID-19 coronavirus in patient samples. RT-PCR kit reagents convert viral Covid19 RNA to DNA and amplify region of viral DNA specific for 2019-nCov. Neon glow, purple light.
Test kit to detect novel COVID-19 coronavirus in patient samples. RT-PCR kit reagents convert viral Covid19 RNA to DNA and amplify region of viral DNA specific for 2019-nCov. Neon glow, purple light.

Laboratories across the Kingdom have the capacity to conduct 53,000 COVID-19 tests daily, the ministry of health has said. At the beginning of the pandemic the said capacity could not exceed more than 1,000 tests per day, the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Health Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdel Ali was quoted by Saudi Press Agency (SPA); as indicating that there was a fear that coronavirus infections would pass the 200,000 mark by the end of April, but that preventive measures adopted by authorities contributed to delay the crisis by three months.

Coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia officially surpassed the 200,000 mark on Friday after detecting 4,193 new infections in the last 24 hours.

Most of the cases were in Dammam, where officials recorded 431 new cases. Hufof recorded 399 new infections, while Riyadh recorded 383. The rest of the new cases were in cities and provinces around the country.

Fifty people died due to COVID-19 on Friday. This brings the virus-related death toll in the Kingdom to 1,802.

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