FIGHT VS. COVID-19. The Department of Health regional office in Palo, Leyte. The agency on Wednesday (May 13, 2020) said the 106 remaining samples from Eastern Visayas for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) confirmatory testing in Cebu City turned out negative. (PNA file photo)
TACLOBAN CITY – All remaining samples from Eastern Visayas for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) confirmatory testing in Cebu City turned out negative, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday.
They were from 106 close contacts of coronavirus patients in Tarangnan town and Catbalogan City, both in Samar, and suspect carriers admitted at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) here, said Minerva Molon, DOH Eastern Visayas Director, in a press statement.
“It was the last batch of swab samples tested at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC). We will no longer send our specimens in Cebu since our regional Covid-19 testing center is now operational,” she added.
The EVRMC molecular laboratory has started on Monday performing coronavirus testing after securing its certification from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila.
The DOH said nine medical technologists and a pathologist are running the facility at the old building of the EVRMC along Magsaysay Boulevard.
Using the real-time polymerase chain reaction machine, the testing center can run at least 90 tests per day, said Carlos Chris Apurillo, Philippine Association of Medical Technologists (PAMET) Leyte-Biliran chapter representative.
“But we can run up to 700 tests per day once the additional equipment and machines have been put in place,” he added.
The medical expert said the laboratory is compliant with the requirements set by the RITM, the DOH central office, and the World Health Organization.
“We’ve gone through a lot of challenges to comply with the requirements and quality assurance procedures. We assure that we practice the highest biosafety level in our laboratory,” he added.
The DOH regional office here sent the first batch of samples in VSMMC, as a sub-national laboratory for coronavirus testing, on March 24.
Since the spread of Covid-19 in the country, a total of 20 cases have been confirmed in the region, two of whom have fully-recovered with zero death. (PNA)
