On Friday, April 3, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first locally manufactured test kit for COVID-19, which will be ready for mass use starting April 4. The kit was developed in collaboration with the University of the Philippines-National Institute of Health (UP-NIH), funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST.)
According to the Certificate of Production Registration that was posted on FDA's website, "the test kit was previously approved by the FDA for field trial, with gene sequencing on 10 March 2020. Upon the company's submission of necessary requirements today, the FDA issued a certification for this COVID-19 test kit to be allowed for commercial use."
The GenAmplify Corona Virus Disease-2019 rRT PCR Detection Kit is relatively more affordable than imported ones. As GMA News previously reported, it'll only cost around P1,320, whereas the current imported test kit is about P8,000. Given that it'll be manufactured in the Philippines, delivery time is significantly shortened.
According to the FDA, there are now 30 approved COVID-19 test kits in the Philippines.
As of April 3, the country has 3,018 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 136 deaths and 52 recoveries.
For more stories on COVID-19, please click here.
