The Health Ministry expects to have antigen tests for COVID-19 in Guyana within the next three weeks and later have them deployed to hinterland communities.
This was announced by Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony during a COVID-19 update on Tuesday. In October, Anthony had said that the government placed an order for 20,000 antigen tests, which he had said would be more practical for use in the country’s hinterland areas.
On Tuesday, Dr Anthony said that he expects to have some of those tests in the country soon, “I expect that we will be receiving some soon, maybe in another two to three weeks we should be able to get those antigen tests” he was quoted as saying. He reiterated that these antigen tests are different from the antibody tests as it tests for the virus itself.
“So we will be using some of this and it takes maybe 15 to 20 minutes when you use it, as soon as we get it, our intention is to deploy this more to the hinterland communities so they can be able to do the test on the spot,” the health minister said while adding that it would allow tests can be conducted at the points of care and would make a difference in those communities.
However, according to the minister, while they will be using those antigen tests, if doctors on those areas have any doubts they will be able to back up the test with the use of Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. Dr. Anthony noted, “So not because we will be doing antigen testing means that we will stop doing PCR testing. Antigen testing would just compliment what we have.”
He specified that the difference between the antibody tests and the antigen tests would be the fact that the antibody test can only show antibodies that appear mostly after the initial period of infection. “So many times when you do an antibody test and it is positive it would probably show that you had the infection not that you have active infection right now but maybe you had the infection because we are detecting the antibody,” he explained.
Minister Anthony said that the best way to diagnose COVID-19 is to use the PCR test, which is still considered the gold standard for detecting the virus.
