Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony on Wednesday stated that the recent arrival of results from samples that were sent for genetic sequencing has confirmed the assumptions of health officials that the Delta variant was here.
He made this disclosure to Stabroek News on the sidelines of an event yesterday afternoon. However, he said that he did not have the information immediately at hand that relates to when this latest batch of samples was sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA).
“I don’t have the information on that, but we do send samples for genetic sequencing, that’s how we are able to determine what variants we have here and in that case, even before we got back the results we knew that, based on the cases that we were seeing.”
Dr Anthony added that this assumption was made based on the number of deaths that were being recorded at the time and the clinical presentation of persons who were being hospitalised.
“We were talking about that [Delta surge] and when we got back the samples, it confirmed what we already knew,” he said.
Meanwhile, during the minister’s COVID-19 update yesterday he reminded that the authorities have arrangements with CARPHA and other agencies where samples would be sent if necessary. When asked about the possible testing for the new Omicron variant, Anthony responded that it is something that will be evaluated.
