The US Acknowledges Shortage of Coronavirus Test Kits

The United States has revealed that it does not have enough kits to test the coronavirus even as the number of infections in the country is on the rise.

According to the United States ’ White House, the American government is unable to deliver one million testing kits in a week as it had earlier projected.

United States’ Vice President Mike Spence acknowledged the situation saying Congress had approved an 8.3 billion dollars emergency spending bill to help combat the virus.

Earlier during the week, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar had told reporters that 1 million kits would be shipped to the US by the end of the week by a private manufacturer.

The one million kits would only be enough to test 400, 000 people as several tests are required to affirm whether a patient is negative or positive for the coronavirus.

Mike Pence said that even though the testing kits were ready, they would not be enough for the coming days as the country must be ready.

”I think we are ready today but we want to be ready tomorrow.” He acknowledged, “We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward. We have made real progress on that in the last several days.”

Other countries are also struggling to equip their laboratories in readiness to combat the virus. Unfortunately, since the whole world is rushing for the same equipment, the supply is low and thus slowing down the fight of the infection.

So far, 200 cases have been confirmed in the USA where 12 people have died.11 deaths have been confirmed in Washington and one in California State.

Globally, the cases of the infections are rising rapidly with the new number hitting 93,000. Other than China, Europe has recorded the second-highest number of coronavirus having over 5000 cases.

Italy and Great Britain have been hit hard, with experts warning the numbers would rise if the virus is not contained soon.

The coronavirus outbreak has prompted the closure of learning institutions and businesses. Since the outbreak, Over 300 million students have been affected globally due to the closures.

Business trips and events, trade shows, conferences, sporting events, political meetings have all been canceled to reduce the spread of Coronavirus.

However, the number of patients who have recovered from the deadly virus is equally high. John Hopkins a global database estimates the number at 53,600 globally.