REUTERS

Ukraine's Chief Medical Officer, Deputy Health Minister Viktor Liashko says the number of tests for the COVID-19 coronavirus conducted in the country has grown dramatically since the beginning of the pandemic.

"Previously, we conducted 300-400 tests per month, while today we have 12,000 PCR [polymerase chain reaction] tests per day," he said at a briefing on June 18. "Today we've conducted 12,000 PCR and 8,000 ELISA [enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay] tests, i.e. we conduct about 20,000-25,000 tests per day."

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At the same time, Liashko said the ministry does not stop and is preparing for the further possible spread of the coronavirus in Ukraine, and therefore expands the number of laboratory equipment that will be delivered to laboratory centers.

"As of today, 69 laboratories conduct the PCR testing. When we entered the epidemic, we had only three such laboratories. In total, 169 laboratories conduct the ELISA testing," the official said, adding the ELISA testing will expand significantly.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine saw a new record spike in daily COVID-19 cases when the number of new positive coronavirus patients grew by 829 in the past 24 hours. As of June 18, the death toll was 966, including 23 deaths in the past day.