MOLDOVA HAS ABOUT 70 THOUSAND COVID-19 TESTS, ANOTHER 100 THOUSAND TO BE PURCHASED IN NEAREST TIME - MINISTER OF HEALTH

Currently, Moldova has about 70 thousand tests for COVID-19 testing, the Minister of Health, Labor and Social Protection Viorica Dumbraveanu said at a parliamentary meeting on Thursday.

She said that the Ministry of Health is negotiating to purchase another 100,000 tests.

Answering the questions of the opposition deputies, she called the trend of an increase of the number of tests carried out to be correct.

“We are following this practice. Let me remind you that at the beginning we had the potential to conduct no more than a hundred tests per day in public laboratories. We have gradually increased both, the capabilities and the number of tests performed. We can now run up to five thousand tests a day. And this is only in state laboratories, and there are also private ones,” the minister said.

When asked about vaccinations and the allocation of funds for the purchase of a vaccine against COVID-19, she said that funds have not yet been allocated.

“How can we allocate funds when it is not known when the coronavirus vaccine will be available and how much it will cost?! We are in contact with the World Health Organization. And we will receive the vaccine, but only when it is developed and certified by WHO. At the same time, we are now purchasing a seasonal flu vaccine. This is also very important in the context of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic,” Dumbraveanu stressed.