Collaboration between Govt, CARPHA on variant testing ongoing – Dr Anthony

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, says testing for COVID-19 variants in Guyana is ongoing with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), even as the Government explores other avenues.
The Minister made the disclosure during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update.
“We initially had some tests that were done by CARPHA. The first set that we had sent, of the 10 samples that went out, we really didn’t see any variants. However, we saw, in subsequent reports, that they have found variants here and as you will recall, we were trying to find that out because we did not get an official report.
We will continue to work with CARPHA to see if we can get more testing done to understand what variants are circulating here. And we’ll try to find from other institutions who have the ability to sequence the Sars COV genome, to see whether or not we can get other people to look at it,” he said.

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony

According to a DPI report, Dr. Anthony further noted that the Government may also utilise the Pan America Health Organization’s (PAHO) network of laboratories in Latin America for testing.
“We can work with them to see how we can improve gene sequencing. But having said all of that, the thing here is that our public health management would not vary much in the sense that people would have to still abide by the rules that we have, and that is social distancing, wearing a mask. You will still have to continue those. And of course, observing these things because I think people have gotten very complacent,” the Health Minister explained.
This sentiment was previously expressed by Dr Anthony. During one of his updates two weeks ago, the minister had stated that conducting more gene-sequencing is not a priority at this time. At the same time, however, he had acknowledged that these more deadly variants of the virus that have been discovered around the world have somehow reached local shores.
“From a clinical perspective, we suspect that this is what is happening,” he had stated, referencing the changing patterns of infected cases, that is, more young people being hospitalised and, in some instances, dying after contracting the virus.
The Health Minister had pointed out that while gene sequencing would have to be conducted to definitively confirm this, air travel between Guyana and other parts of the world has exposed the country to these newer and deadlier variants.
“While Delta (variant) was first discovered in India, it is now the dominant variant in the US and we have travel back and forth from the US on a daily basis. So, one can assume that we have different types of variants circulating in Guyana and would’ve contributed to the clinical picture that we’re seeing here. So not only do we have more deaths, we’re seeing more people being hospitalised during this period,” he posited.
Minister Anthony had also reminded that none of the persons who died from COVID-19 so far were fully vaccinated against the virus. As such, he reiterated calls for persons to get immunised.
He reiterated this during Wednesday’s update, urging persons to take what he has described as the “common-sense approach” to ride out this third wave of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister also revealed that the Government is paying close attention to the evolution of COVID-19 in order to ensure it adequately adjusts its vaccination response.
Dr Anthony said while several private sector companies have instituted mandatory vaccination within their organisations, the Government is keeping a close watch even as it explores other strategies to combat vaccine hesitancy.
“We [the Government] are looking at what is evolving from an epidemiological point of view, and we will take all the necessary steps to ensure that people are protected,” the Minister said during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update.
Dr. Anthony noted that with the fast-spreading Delta variant several Governments around the world have also implemented mandatory vaccination. This includes several states in the United States, and France. The Minister said the Government will take a decision on the matter in due course.