No novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing has been done in recent days due to “problems” at the National Public Health Reference Laboratory (NPHRL).
Since last Thursday, when the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) confirmed 12 new cases, no new results have been released.
The MoPH’s Public Relations Officer Terrence Esseboom yesterday told Sunday Stabroek that he was unaware why but no one was tested in the past few days.
According to the MoPH COVID-19 dashboard that was posted in the ministry’s Facebook page yesterday, the number of confirmed cases remained at 183. The information that was released yesterday was unchanged from the report given on Thursday.
Sunday Stabroek was told a person who was tested almost a week ago was informed that the NPHRL is “experiencing some problems” after calling to ask why they hadn’t received their results as yet. The person revealed that they were told that the sample taken wasn’t analysed.
Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) representative Dr. William Adu-Krow has told Stabroek News that COVID-19 samples should ideally be tested within 72 hours of collection.
Up to Thursday, the ministry reported that the number of persons tested for the virus in Guyana was 2,048.
The number of persons recovered was given as 102, while there were 69 active cases that were within institutional isolation and 24 persons within institutional quarantine.
Government, through the National COVID-19 Task Force, last week initiated a planned rollback of COVID-19 emergency measures, which is expected to be executed in six phases, with the first phase running from June 18 to July 2. The announcement came two days after 12 new cases were recorded and a day before 12 more cases were reported.
Classes also resumed at schools around the country last week for students due to sit the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) and Caribbean Examination Council-administered secondary level examinations. The teachers’ union has opposed the resumption of the classes due to concerns over the spread of the virus to students, teachers and support staff, despite safety protocols being implemented by schools.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Shamdeo Persaud has said that even as Guyana moves to slowly relax emergency measures, the country still remains at a higher risk as COVID-19 is rampant in neighbouring countries and a reduction has so far not been seen.
The national 6 pm to 6 am curfew remains in effect.
