TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) has already tested 275 suspected carriers of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in Eastern Visayas with only six patients found out positive, one of the lowest in the country.
Citing laboratory results, DOH Eastern Visayas Regional Director Minerva Molon said only 2 percent of the total swab samples taken from the region’s suspected carriers were found positive of the virus.
Of the 275 samples, 14 were tested by the DOH- Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City and 261 were examined at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City.
The VSMMC has started RT-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing of samples from the Visayas in the third week of March.
“Through contact tracing, we’re able to identify people who are a priority for testing or people manifesting severe symptoms with travel history in areas with local transmission and close contacts with Covid-19 positive,” Molon said in a statement.
Also listed as a priority are healthcare workers with severe or critical symptoms and history of travel or exposure and those vulnerable such as 60 years old or older with other illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes.
The health department has to prioritize suspected carriers for testing due to the global shortage of testing kits and limitations in local capacity for testing.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the DOH has already identified six positive patients from the region’s three provinces.
The first patient is a 51-year-old woman in Catarman, Northern Samar with travel history to Japan and Manila. She already recovered and was discharged from the hospital.
A 63-year-old male from Calbayog City, Samar is the region’s second positive case with travel history in Manila. He is already out of the hospital, but still completing the 14-day home isolation.
The patient from Calbayog transmitted the virus to the region’s third patient, a 56-year-old woman and the fourth patient, a 32-year-old woman. Both of them are from Tarangnan, Samar. They are now recovering at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) in this city.
The region’s fifth case, also admitted at EVRMC, is a 58-year-old woman from Burauen, Leyte with recent travel history to Guam and Manila.
A co-worker of the fourth and fifth patients is the region’s sixth case.
She’s a 60-year-old woman, also from Tarangan town. She was rushed to EVRMC on Monday.
As of Tuesday, the region has 246 suspected carriers of Covid-19 with 34 of them admitted in hospitals and 212 under home isolation. (PNA)
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