The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) has donated over 40,000 rapid testing kits to the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) to help contain the spread of the novel coronavirus disease in Guyana.
Director General of the CDC Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig reported that the CDEMA has donated approximately 46, 250 rapid testing kits along with 200,000 surgical masks and these were expected to arrive in the country last night. At the time he spoke to Stabroek News, Craig stated that he did not know where the donated rapid tests were manufactured but he would provide an update once they have arrived. He added that once the tests have arrived, they will be handed over to Ministry of Public Health.
Meanwhile, the newly sworn-in Minister of Public Health, Dr Frank Anthony told Stabroek News that the Ministry will allow the use of rapid testing at the “appropriate stage” of the disease. “Rapid testing is not appropriate as a diagnostic tool but rapid testing can be used in a different stage of the illness,” he explained. He added that the Ministry will only use rapid tests that were approved in other places and have proven to have strong safety protocols. He noted, however, that using a rapid test will still be a risk because there was a high incidence of false positives and negatives in various countries.
Anthony stressed that once those rapid tests have been approved in other countries, they are supposed to have better level of percentages in sensitivity and specificity. “So we are looking at those because those would be more appropriate,” he said.
There are two types of rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) currently being used by some countries. One is based on antigen detection while another is based on host antibody detection. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), one type of RDT detects the presence of viral proteins (antigens) expressed by the COVID-19 virus in a sample from the respiratory tract of a person. The antigens detected are expressed only when the virus is actively replicating; therefore, such tests are best used to identify acute or early infection. There is another, more common type of RDT marketed for COVID-19; a test that detects the presence of antibodies in the blood of people believed to have been infected with COVID-19.
It is unclear which of these rapid tests were donated to the CDC.
To date WHO has not approved any of the rapid tests that are being used and manufactured by countries such as the United States.
