Eastern Visayas opens the first COVID-19 test center

MANILA – Officials on Monday opened Eastern Visayas’ first novel coronavirus detection facility, which the health department said would reduce the wait time for results.

The Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in the city of Tacloban can test up to 90 specimens daily and produce results in one day, said Health Department information officer John Paul Roca.

Swab samples from the region were previously sent to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City, which took a week or two to return the results, he said.

A pathologist and 9 technicians who will head the Tacloban laboratory received training in Cebu, Roca said.

In its first week of operations, the laboratory will prioritize testing of suspected and probable COVID-19 patients endorsed by the regional epidemiology and surveillance unit, it said.

Eastern Visayas has confirmed 19 cases of respiratory disease, with zero deaths.