Patients Of Infectious Diseases Hospital: Some People Have Been Waiting For Coronavirus Test Results Since 29th

The Ministry of Health explains it by the high load of the Republican Scientific and Practical center.

Anastasia, an employee of one of the capital's IT-companies, returned from Italy on February 26. She was working for two days and felt quite normal. But at the weekend her temperature rose, and on Monday the girl called an ambulance. She was taken to the capital's infectious disease hospital, where they took a swab for coronavirus. And now, for the fourth day, she doesn't know the test results, and neither does one of her roommates. The third "colleague" of the girls has been waiting for results since February 29, onliner.by writes.

Anastasia was on vacation in Italy. The girl went to Milan, Venice, Verona and Como. She returned to Belarus on February 26.

- In Italy, all the arriving passengers were checked with a thermal imaging camera, - the girl says. - I was returning through Poland. In Warsaw, doctors got on the plane, and they also checked the temperature with a thermal imaging camera. Two people were removed from the plane and taken away by an ambulance. In Belarus, at the border, I said I was coming from Italy, but they didn't answer anything and didn't give me the questionnaire, which they were talking about.

On February 27 and 28, Anastasia went to work, and at the weekend her temperature went up. The girl called an ambulance on Monday morning.

- I had a fever, cough, headache, weakness and digestive disorder, - the girl explaines. - I called an ambulance and it took the car over an hour to get to my place. Before putting me in the hospital, both the ambulance crew and the doctors at the hospital asked me not only the usual details but also where I had arrived from, where I had been to, what flight I had been on, the number of the bus I had taken, the car number of the taxi I had been driving home from the station, who I had been in contact with, and so on. They put me in my room at about 15:00, they took my tests at about 17:00, although at first they said that they would not take anything that day. They said that the results would be ready in a day and a half, then they said in three days. Today is the fourth day, but they say that there are no results.

Anastasia is not in a separate box, but together with two other patients. They have a similar situation. One of the neighbors arrived with her, another one underwent tests on the night of February 29 to March 1. They all say that the coronavirus test results are still not there.

- We called the hotline at the Republican Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, where they said that the results for February 29 and March 2 were ready, the same information is reported on the hotline of the Ministry of Health. But the hospital has no results, and we know nothing. They bring us some pills, two of us have had an X-ray taken - that's all the treatment, - Anastasia says. - Our colleagues in the office are worried because they do not know what to do. I have 35 people working in my office, all of them now are working from home. Another girl has 100 people working in the office, they also worry.

- At first we were told that if there are negative tests, they will let us go home and watch us at home. Naturally, we didn't take anything with us, as we didn't plan to stay here for long, - Nastsia explains. - Now they say that since there are symptoms, they will keep us here for 14 days. And we are locked here, we cannot go out, just can open the window and have an airing. The food is brought to us in a special box, and we take it from there. So far the situation is like this.

- Why do the tests take so long? They take six hours around the world, - the patients are outraged.

The Ministry of Health explains that now the load on the Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology is very high.

- Since January 30, 5000 tests have been made in the country. Moreover, these tests are being double-checked. Part of the work is automated, and some is done manually, - Health Ministry spokeswoman Yuliya Barodun said.

The ministry has not answered how high the load is and how big the queue is.

We remind that at the moment 6 cases of coronavirus infection have been revealed in Belarus. As of yesterday, 14.5 thousand people were under observation.