15:03, 15 сентября 2021, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Maria ORLOVA
At least 1,824,071 tests for COVID-19 have been conducted in Kyrgyzstan since the beginning of the pandemic. Aigul Dzhumakanova, head of the Center for Laboratory Testing of the Department of State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance, said at a briefing.
According to her, 19 laboratories for diagnosis of COVID-19 are functioning in the republic, 13 of which are public and 6 are private.
Aigul Dzhumakanova noted that laboratory diagnostics is carried out using PCR method. An express method is also used for screening, and the Genexpert method — in emergency cases.
«Since the beginning of the pandemic, PCR test kits from different manufacturers (WHO, Russia, China, Turkey, Korea, Germany) have been received from various sources for a total of 701,790 tests, at least 534,556 of them are free of charge. Received PCR test kits are tested at the National Virological Laboratory, after which they are distributed among the laboratories,» she said.
Aigul Dzhumakanova added that in order to increase the capacity of laboratories for diagnosing coronavirus, four complete sets of PCR laboratories were purchased from the epidemiological fund and distributed to the regional centers of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance. In addition, it is planned to open 10 more PCR laboratories.