With the backlog of COVID-19 tests now cleared, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony on Friday said that the processing of results from the most recent testing will now be completed within 48 hours.
“At one point we had a large backlog and that was when we were doing more broad scale testing and so because of that backlog we had to reduce the amount of testing that we did for those persons who would just walk in and who felt like they want to have a test without being in contact with persons exposed or so,” Anthony said during a COVID-19 update on Friday.
He added that presently the number of samples that are being sent to the National Public Health Reference Laboratory can be managed and samples can be processed in a timely manner. “In 28 to 48 hours we are able to get those samples out,” he stated.
Further, he disclosed that a three-shift system has been set up so that samples can be analysed during a 24-hour period. He noted that prior to the backlog they were swabbing anyone who wished to be tested but as a result of the recent backlog they will only be testing persons who were exposed to a COVID-19 positive person, someone who is displaying the symptoms of COVID-19, hospitalised persons and frontline workers who feel that they have been exposed to the disease.
Additionally, he said in the event that there is another backlog, the Health Ministry has made arrangements with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to assist in this regard. In addition, he said it has also made arrangements to send samples to the United States should there be a backlog and it is also still engaged in discussions to have Region Nine’s samples sent over to Brazil.
Meanwhile, as of yesterday 66 additional cases of COVID-19 were recorded, bringing the total number of cases in Guyana to 2,168.
The additional cases were detected from the 142 samples that were tested, according to the health ministry’s COVID-19 dashboard. These cases are from Region One, which recorded 11 cases, Region Three, which recorded six cases, Region Four, which recorded 42 cases, Region Seven, which recorded one case, Region Nine, which recorded two cases and Region Ten, which recorded four cases.
The dashboard also revealed that 15 persons are in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 82 in institutional isolation, 676 persons in home isolation and 59 persons in institutional quarantine. Sixty-four persons who were infected with the disease have died, while 1,331 persons have recovered.
