OLYMPIA — Charissa Fotinos, deputy chief medical officer with Washington State Health Care Authority, and Reed Schuler, senior policy adviser to Gov. Jay Inslee, said Wednesday that they expect the federal government to begin delivering roughly 500,000 tests worth of supplies to fulfill a request made by the governor.

Inslee and public health officials have previously emphasized that increasing the state’s capacity for testing will be a crucial component to preventing another exponential wave of COVID-19 infections as the state gradually resumes public activity.

Fotinos said greater testing capacity statewide will help identify coronavirus patients earlier so they can receive treatment and be isolated from others to reduce community spread.

Schuler said the largest obstacle to increasing testing capacity has been the difficulty in procuring viral testing swabs, sample containers and other materials necessary to process tests. The test parts are in high global demand, and there are few domestic manufacturers.

Laboratories across the state currently have a combined capacity to conduct about 20,000 tests a day, Fotinos said, but testing kits and materials have only been available for about 3,500 to 4,500 tests to be conducted per day.

Schuler said he expects 40,000 testing swabs to be delivered to the state within the next few days and more weekly deliveries in the coming months.

Viral testing kits and supplies will be divided among the regions of the state, Fotinos said, with the goal of every community being able to offer testing to anyone who has symptoms consistent with COVID-19.

She said because of the increased supply of testing materials and improved supply chains, health care providers in the state are expanding from only testing those who had moderate to severe COVID-19 symptoms to now testing those with mild symptoms as well.