Public health officials in Orange County say they’re now able to test for coronavirus in patients exhibiting symptoms of the contagious disease amid fears of a local outbreak.

The Orange County Health Care Agency said Saturday tests would be administered to anyone with the flu-like symptoms of the disease — referred to as COVID-19 by experts — who in the last two weeks has been in contact with other virus patients or who has traveled in areas where outbreaks have occurred.

Testing could also be done for patients hospitalized for fever and a lower respiratory illness that’s “otherwise unexplained,” HCA officials said on Twitter.

The health agency warned residents that the testing performed at its laboratory in Santa Ana must be requested by their doctors or other health care providers.

“This testing is arranged with each individual’s health care provider and/or hospital and walk-ups to our lab will not be accommodated,” the officials said.

Last week, HCA asked 600 Orange County residents who traveled to China recently to stay home. None of those residents showed coronavirus symptoms — the quarantines were voluntary and were requested as a precaution in case any of the travelers began experiencing symptoms, said Dr. Nichole Quick, county health officer at the agency.

Quick said the voluntary quarantines were asked for according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

We’re now able to test individuals that meet @CDCgov criteria for #COVID19 testing at our Public Health Lab, including: (1) persons with fever or lower respiratory illness who had close contact with a COVID-19 patient within 14 days of symptom onset… — Health Care Agency (@ochealth) March 1, 2020

Others with the highest risk of contracting coronavirus have been taken to quarantine facilities, where they would stay for about two weeks.

In an email, Jessica Good, an HCA spokeswoman, said the agency was conducting the tests “at no cost in our Public Health Lab in the interest of protecting public health.”

Officials with the Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County public health agencies could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday on whether such doctor-requested testing is planned in their counties.

Jose Arballo Jr., a spokesman for Riverside University Health System-Public Health, said the agency was planning to provide tests for residents of Riverside County showing symptoms of coronavirus.

“The hope is that testing in Riverside County will start soon,” Arballo said in an email. He did not given an estimate of when tests might begin.

None of the agencies said Sunday where they’re obtaining potentially thousands of kits for testing patients for coronavirus. State public health officials said last week they were receiving 1,200 testing kits from the federal government to be distributed to their laboratories in several counties.

Some of those laboratories are local, including facilities in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and San Diego counties.

In a statement, Dr. Sonia Angell, the director of the state’s Department of Public Health, said distributing the kits would help health workers “respond rapidly to this evolving situation.”

“As we face the likelihood of community transmission here in California, having this resource where we need it, is essential to better inform public health response and protect our communities,” she said.

At least 40 cases of coronavirus have been reported in California. The majority of those were people who traveled on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, or who came home to the state directly from Wuhan, China, where tens of thousands of people have contracted the disease.

Good, the HCA spokeswoman, said the agency would only administer tests to patients whose symptoms and whereabouts have met CDC criteria.

Notifications about the results of their tests will be made through the doctors the patients reported their symptoms to, Good said. She said testing will occur at the HCA labs Monday through Friday.

“Turnaround time depends on the arrival of the specimen to our lab,” she said in an email. “If the specimen arrives before 1 p.m. Monday though Friday, we will do our best to perform testing the same day.”

Good said anyone who ends up being tested for coronavirus will be “isolated, pending results.”

While testing is beginning now in Orange County, Good said the HCA has already been talking to doctors whose patients have asked whether they have the disease. It’s not clear how many of those were referred for further testing.

“We’ve had hundreds of consultations with physicians asking whether their patients qualify for testing,” Good said. “The majority of patients have not met CDC criteria.”