Govt exploring use of at-home COVID test kits – President Ali

…“don’t panic” – Health Minister to Guyanese

In light of the rush to get tested amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in Guyana, President Dr Irfaan Ali has announced that his Government is exploring the use of at-home COVID-19 test kits to prevent gatherings of people at testing sites across the country.
“In many developed jurisdictions now, they are not giving everyone the test as part of their management protocol and they’re encouraging home tests now, the use of home kits as part of their response agenda. This is something we have to look at also; rather than having long lines for PCR; whether we are going to go to the direction where we have the home kits being used more effectively. And you know, the reliability of the home kits has also improved tremendously through the lifecycle of this pandemic so far,” the President said at an emergency press conference on Wednesday to update the country on the rising COVID-19 cases.
As such, he disclosed that Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony has been instructed to review this with his technical team.

The Head of State further told <<<Guyana Times>>>, when asked, that discussions were currently ongoing on whether Government would be procuring and distributing these home kits to households in Guyana.
“A part of exploring [the use of the at-home kits] is exploring the cost associated… and the supply, because there are still issues in the supply chain… and that is what we are analysing now in terms of the home testing, but definitely it is something that is being discussed, because we know… that the need for testing would increase. Naturally, people are going to become concerned with the slightest of symptoms and they are going to want to be tested,” President Ali related to this newspaper.

“Don’t panic”
Nevertheless, it was indicated during Wednesday’s press conference that the country has adequate testing capacity with the National Reference Laboratory being able to conduct at least 2000 PCR tests within a 24-hour period.
Moreover, the various regional hospitals across the country also have testing capability. These are in addition to testing capacities at private institutions.
But Minister Anthony warned against persons swamping testing facilities in a panic, reminding those persons who were exposed to the virus must wait at least five days before getting tested in order to get accurate results.
“If you are exposed and you come immediately to be tested, the test is going to show that you’re negative. You have to wait a couple of days before you get tested. During those days, you need to be in quarantine… So, don’t go and swamp the testing sites. We see a lot of people showing up at testing sites and…demanding to be tested, but if they do that too early, you’re not going to know what’s your true status,” he stated.

The Health Minister is confident that if persons “pace themselves and don’t panic”, the country will be able to manage this surge in novel coronavirus infections.
COVID-19 cases in Guyana have seen a sharp spike over the past week with new infections reaching as high as more than 700 within a 24-hour period on Wednesday – the highest figure recorded since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus here in March 2020.
Health authorities have attributed this rise in cases to the Omicron variant, which while not deadly is highly transmissible.
However, there has been criticism by some including the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) – the leading party in the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) fraction of the coalition Opposition – on what basis Government was operating as though Omicron was here.
But Dr Anthony pointed to various factors such as the rapid rise in cases within a short period, the type of symptoms and low hospitalisation rate, among others, which he says “strongly” suggest the variant is here.
More evidence is the absence of the ‘S gene’ in PCR tests conducted. The Health Minister explained this test targets three specific areas of the virus and with Omicron cases, there is a drop off of the ‘S gene’. Added to this is the fact that Omicron has also spread to nearly all the Caribbean countries.
“So, there are all these features that we have observed, using our collection of data, and because of that we can predict that that is what we have here,” Minister Anthony stressed.
Nevertheless, the Guyana Government has sent samples for genetic testing overseas to officially confirm the presence of Omicron in Guyana. But this process is expected to last at least two weeks with additional time for the results to be ready.
To this end, President Ali contended that his government cannot await the results in order to act.
“So, we are operating based on advice that is here and we are taking action based on that advice. We’ve always spoken about being proactive… and this here too, we are trying to be ahead of the game… As of now, we are in control. We have enough testing kits, we have enough capability, we have enough capacity to manage this situation,” the Head of State argued.
On this note, the President reiterated pleas for persons to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and for those who are qualified to get their booster shots in order to protect themselves from contracting the virus. (G8)