MANILA - The Ayala Group on Monday said it would boost its COVID-19 efforts led by its unit AC Health by ramping up testing capacity and expansion of facilities, among others.

Ayala and AC Health have so far allocated over P9 billion for its COVID-19 initiatives, it said.

"The Ayala Group renews its commitment to support the Department of Health (DOH) and Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to address our local health care needs in light of the pandemic," Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Chairman of the Board of AC Health said.

Aside from equipment and PPE donations, testing centers and isolation facilities, AC Health continued the operations of FamilyDoc, Healthway and Generika drugstores, it said. Qualimed Sta. Rosa was also converted into a COVID-19 referral hospital, it said.

AC Health plans to double the daily testing capacity of Tropical Disease Foundation to 400 from 200, while the Daniel Mercado Medical Center (DMMC) in Batangas was also recently accredited as a COVID-19 laboratory for an additional 1,000 tests per day, the group said.

The group will provide a total daily testing capacity of 5,650, it said.

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