Health Ministry To Up Testing Capacity To 20,000
Japan's health ministry plans to expand the country's capacity to test for the coronavirus to 20,000 a day. It is also thinking about increasing drive-through testing.
The ministry says Japan now has the capacity for up to 12,000 daily tests, done by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, public health centers and others.
It plans to increase the capacity to test by supporting the installment of more equipment. It would use some of the emergency economic package recently announced by the government for this purpose.
It also aims to secure more workers so that the number of tests actually conducted can increase. They have remained at 4,000 a day on average in the week through Monday.
Drive-through tests, which have already been introduced in parts of the country, including Niigata City, allow people to be tested in their vehicle.
The ministry plans to consider making this method more available as it helps to reduce the risk of in-hospital infections while allowing effective testing.
The ministry has not set a deadline, but it wants to achieve the target as soon as possible.
