Mon State opened its first coronavirus testing laboratory in Mawlamyine, the state capital.

Dr Tun Aung Kyi, head of the state health department, told NMG that the biosafety level-3 lab at the tuberculosis department will begin operating this Thursday.

"We will test COVID-19 at our lab on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday every week. At the beginning we will be testing 90 samples a day. Subsequently, we expect to assess 280 cases per day."

Initially, the lab will only test patients from Mon State. Eventually the testing will be expanded to include Karen State and Taninthari Region.

Dr Tun Aung Kyi says the hospital is still finding staff to run the lab.

Currently, there are only four staff, says Dr Ni Ni Han, the head of the new lab.

 "We're looking for volunteers," he says, explaining two technicians from Yangon and three from Mon State will join their team. "Other volunteers for data management and cleaning staff will come to help us."

There have been 1,146 test samples from Mon State sent to the National Health Laboratory in Yangon. Only one person (Case 27) tested positive and the patient has since recovered and been released from hospital.

Two labs to test for coronavirus are being built in Lashio and Taunggyi in Shan State.

There are 233 confirmed cases in Burma, while 145 have recovered and 6 died. A total of 29,923 have been tested for COVID-19.