Eastern Visayas has no case

PALO, Leyte — Despite the influx of locally stranded individuals (LSI) from different parts of the country, no new COVID-19 case was reported in Eastern Visayas on Tuesday.

It marked the first time in over two months that no positive case was reported except when no tests are conducted especially on weekends.

The Department of Health (DoH) regional office also announced that all pending samples at the government-run Eastern Visayas Regional COVID-19 Testing Center (EVRCTC) have all been processed.

The backlog prompted the testing center to stop accepting new specimens for three days last week.

The DoH earlier issued a new guideline that limits PCR-based testing on returning LSI to those who exhibit symptoms of COVID-19 infection.

The guideline, though, imposes a mandatory 14-days quarantine to all returning residents who will be allowed to return to their respective families if no sign of infection shows are the end of the period with or without the confirmatory test.

On Tuesday evening, the DoH announced that a total of 157 combined laboratory results were released by the EVRCTC and the Divine Word Hospital Virology Laboratory.

The results included tests on 26 employees of Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center, who were all tested negative of infection.

It marked the first time in over two months that no positive case was reported except when no tests are conducted especially on weekends.

Of 157 laboratory results, four turned out positive of COVID-19 infection but all of them were re-swab of identified positive patients wh are all presently in different isolation facilities run by local government units.

Eastern Visayas remains at 653 cases as of Tuesday evening with 40 active cases, 610 recoveries and three deaths.