MANILA, Philippines (Corrected 8:07 p.m.) — The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday announced that there is a total of eight registered test kits to locally diagnose the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Philippines for commercial use.
Most or three of the approved test kits are from South Korea, which has reported 8,652 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Saturday, the highest total in Asia excluding China.
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The republic also posted the highest number of confirmed new cases among the entire continent today.
Meanwhile, two test kits each were manufactured in China and Germany, while another was made in Singapore, according to the list released by the health product regulatory agency on Friday.
The Philippines recorded the highest daily jump of confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday after 77 new infections brought the national tally to 307.
RELATED: Philippines reports 77 new COVID-19 cases; infection count now at 307
(Editor's note: This article has been corrected to show that it is the Food and Drug Administration—FDA—that approved the test kits and not the DFA, which is the Department of Foreign Affairs. We apologize for the error.)