Moscow Conducts Around 15,000 Express COVID-19 Tests Daily - Mayor

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th April, 2020) Moscow is conducting around 15,000 express tests to detect COVID-19 daily, through Federal, regional and private laboratories, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said in an interview with Sputnik.

"As you may remember, we have started with moderate volumes of testing, only through several research institutes, which are in fact Rospotrebnadzor [Russian consumer rights watchdog] laboratories. They were conducting around 3,000 tests [daily] in the beginning. Now we are conducting five times more tests, around 15,000 tests daily, which is a great volume even according to international standards," Sobyanin said.

Both federal, regional and private laboratories focus on COVID-19 diagnostics, the mayor noted.

Over one-third of all the health care employees in Moscow are engaged in the coronavirus response, Sobyanin added.