Ramp up testing

With coronavirus (COVID-19) cases increasing daily, there are calls being made for health authorities of the various countries, including Guyana’s, to accelerate and expand testing in order to obtain a clearer view of where the virus is circulating, and how many people have been infected. Health experts have underlined increased testing as one of the key actions that could be taken to win the battle against the deadly pandemic.
Accelerating and expanding testing in the early stages of discovering the virus is very crucial, so as to better guide policy-makers, health partners, and health-care workers in containing the spread of the virus. We have seen in countries around the world, where testing took a long time to take off, how the virus was able to spread rapidly.
On the other hand, there were huge success rates for countries like Germany, South Korea and New Zealand, as they were able to test and isolate far more widely than others. They also rapidly stockpiled kits and made the test available to a larger number of labs, which allowed for more persons to be tested and diagnosed early.
There are two main reasons for testing people early: to have individual diagnosis, and to determine how far the virus has spread, so that the authorities could isolate and track those persons who may have come into contact with someone who was tested positive before others are infected. Information garnered from testing could also be very useful in helping health-care partners plan to deal with the demand for intensive care units and other critical medical supplies.
In some countries, due to the inadequate supply of testing kits, testing is reserved for seriously ill patients in hospitals, and for certain key workers who are on the frontline, such as health-care workers, transportation providers, law enforcement officials, and so on. This means that even if you develop mild symptoms, you would not be able to be tested for COVID-19, unless you become seriously ill.
In Guyana’s case, when the pandemic was first discovered, only the National Public Health Reference Laboratory was permitted to process testing kits. However, after some pressure, the National COVID-19 Task Force gave the go-ahead for private hospitals to import kits and conduct their own testing. Even though a bit late, this was seen as a positive step towards ensuring that more persons are tested and diagnosed. To date, a total of 348 persons have been tested in Guyana, but there is urgent need for the authorities here to ramp up testing in the coming days.
No one ever imagined dealing with a pandemic of this magnitude, and certainly no country was prepared to give the kind of response that is needed in such a situation. There are indications that the worst features of the pandemic are yet to come, as some countries have not reached their peak as yet.
Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr Carissa F. Etienne, recently pointed out that even though countries were prepared to test and detect cases of COVID-19 since before the pandemic was declared, the increasing cases being recorded over the past few weeks posed a real challenge, and countries are finding it very difficult to keep up. She said that, as the pandemic continues to impact the region, it is vital for all countries to actively embrace preventive measures while preparing for more cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
PAHO has since made some key recommendations for countries to: expand their capacities and use all available national laboratories; prioritise patients with symptoms, tracing contacts and following up with those who may be infected; and ensure access for all, so testing would be free of charge for patients.
PAHO has said it provided more than 500,000 PCR tests to 34 countries, and is working with other countries to track and support their capacities. An additional 1.5 million PCR tests are expected to be dispatched throughout the Region this week, followed by another 3 million next week, to strengthen laboratory surveillance networks in member states. This would certainly be a boost to the testing capacities of the various countries.