DOH-7: Only 3 COVID-19 tests remain for confirmation

Some patients, who tested negative of coronavirus, have been discharged -- Bernadas

VSMMC, a sub-national level laboratory for COVID-19 tests. | CDN file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Several of the patients who underwent the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) tests at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) are being discharged.

Dr. Jaime Bernadas, Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH -7) director, said they had started releasing from the hospitals those who had tested negative of the virus.

“We have initially released from the hospitals those who yielded negative during the conduct of our tests,” said Bernadas.

However, Bernadas did not disclose the specific number, citing that the process of discharging the patients suspected of having COVID-19 was still ongoing as of Monday, March 23, 2020.

The DOH-7 has started conducting COVID-19 tests at VSMMC on March 19, 2020.

VSMMC was identified as a sub-national level laboratory capable of doing laboratory tests needed to detect infection of the disease for the Visayas area.

For its pilot batch, health workers from DOH-7 and VSMMC administered to 50 patients where 47 already tested negative of COVID-19.

The remaining three samples were sent to the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) for further confirmatory tests.

In an earlier press conference, Bernadas said they still needed the official opinion of the RITM on the results produced at VSMMC, adding that it was still a pilot test and they had several questions that needed answers from experts. /dbs