WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2020) The United States stands to reach 10 million coronavirus testings this week, consolidating its world leadership in the field, US President Donald Trump told reporters.
"This week the United States will pass 10 million tests conducted, nearly double the the number of any other country. We are testing more people per capita than South Korea, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Sweden, Finland, and many other countries, in some cases combined," Trump said at a White House briefing.
As of Monday morning, the figure stood at 9 million tests, accelerating by 300,000 per day.
"Three weeks ago we were conducting roughly 150,000 tests per day. Now we are doing approximately 300,000 tests per day, a 100 percent increase, and it will go up substantially from that number," Trump said.
Wide testing for coronavirus is viewed as a necessary prerequisite to reopen the US after quarantines and lockdowns. In an effort to further ramp up testing, Trump announced the allocation of $11 billion to every state, territory and tribe.
According to a White House fact sheet released after the presser, the administration expects more than 300 retail testing sites to be operational tin 47 states by the end of the week.
The government will also be sending aroudn 12 million swabs to the states during the course of May, the release said.
The White House also said that new antibody tests, antigen tests, point-of-care nucleic acid testing, and genomic sequencing technologies are now under development to enhance coronavirus monitoring.
