CEBU CITY, Philippines – The sub-national level laboratory in Cebu City has tested over 1,000 samples taken from individuals in Central Visayas suspected to have the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
In a report published by the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), a total of 1,158 samples have been tested in their laboratory, with zero pending samples, as of April 9, 2020
1,039 of these, or around 90 percent of the total number of specimens tested in the hospital, are from Central Visayas while the remaining 119 are from Eastern Visayas.
Of the 1,158 samples taken, around 96 percent or 1,117 tested negative while 41 positive.
VSMMC, however, disclosed, that regional offices of the Department of Health (DOH) have the authority to provide further details on the samples that tested positive or negative.
For Central Visayas, the DOH here reported a total of 36 confirmed COVID-19 cases with eight deaths, and 19 recoveries as of April 9, 2020. For the same date, a total of 57 samples from the region were tested and yielded negative results.
VSMMC also caters to the regions of Northern Mindanao, and Caraga (Region XIII) but as of April 9, 2020, no specimens from these regions in Mindanao were tested there yet.
The hospital is one of the two sub-national laboratories scientists from the national government have identified to carry out COVID-19 tests in the Visayas area. It has started conducting tests on March 19, 2020.
The other is the Western Visayas Medical Center based in Iloilo City.
Enough testing kits
In his earlier interviews, Dr. Jaime Bernadas, director of DOH in the region (DOH – 7), said they have enough kits to do tests on a daily basis.
Bernadas said they have around 5,000 testing kits in possession as of April 4, 2020, and are expecting 40,000 more to be flown into Central Visayas ‘anytime soon’.
Based on DOH central office’s data, VSMMC can process an estimated 240 COVID-19 tests per day.
They are also eyeing to activate three other hospitals in Central Visayas to do COVID-19 tests. These are located in Lapu-Lapu City, Tagbilaran City in Bohol, and Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental. /bmjo