The average level of Covid-19 testing

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Leon Perera
MP for Aljunied GRC

Question No. 180

To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the average level of COVID-19 testing per day for the last month; (b) what is the expected timeline for reaching the target of 40,000 tests per day announced in May 2020; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider publishing the number of tests conducted per day.

Answer

1.         COVID-19 testing is a key enabler in the Government’s overall efforts to fight COVID-19.  In September 2020, we tested an average of 27,200 individuals per day for COVID-19 using diagnostic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. This is approximately 4,700 individuals PCR tested per million total population each day. PCR testing is done using a combination of standard and pooled testing as the circumstances allow.

2.         We are on track to have a testing capacity of 40,000 tests a day by November 2020.

3.         To provide regular updates on the number of individuals tested, MOH already publishes information on the total number of swabs conducted and total number of unique persons swabbed on MOH’s website every Tuesday.