– mulls establishment of mobile unit to assist

CHIEF Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, has stated that the Ministry of Public Health has expanded the protocol on the criteria for COVID-19 testing which will see a larger number of persons most at-risk to the virus being tested.

“Anyone who presents to any of our hospitals with what is called SARI – Severe Acute Respiratory Illness – once the doctors identify those persons, special measures are instituted immediately. We are encouraging the facilities, both public and private, to collect a sample from those persons for testing and we are going a little further than that to try to identify some community contacts,” Dr. Shamdeo said during an appearance on the NCN programme ‘COVID-19 Conversations’.

Guyana has had a total of 1,800 test kits and as of April 12, 193 tests have been conducted with 45 positive results. The enhancement of testing will depend on the number of test kits available.

To ramp up testing, the Public Health Ministry is considering the establishment of a mobile unit to do sample collecting, while tests will continue to be done in the laboratory.

Just recently, it was disclosed that the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine at the National Public Health Reference Laboratory can process 48 samples on an eight-hour shift.

This, coupled with the mobile unit, may see the ministry being able to access hard-to-reach areas and rural communities to provide testing. The efforts will be complemented by the inclusion of testing being conducted by private hospitals.

“We would like to at least test all of the persons who were in contact with positive cases or who had direct or indirect contact with those cases,” the CMO said, adding that “Once we have an adequate supply of kits, I am sure we will move out to the communities.”

Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry is also working closely with mortuaries across Guyana to ensure all necessary precautions are taken when dealing with the bodies of persons who succumbed to the virus.

“They [mortuaries] have been following the guidelines that we have established for safe handling and disposal of those persons who may have succumbed from COVID-19,” Dr. Persaud said.

“There might be a death suspicious of the Coronavirus but there was no testing done or no confirmation of the case. However, we still advise of careful handling to reduce as much as possible the risk of those handling those bodies.”

To date, Guyana has recorded six deaths while its confirmed cases stand at 45.

With the possibility projected that the number of cases could reach as high as 20,000 in Guyana, the authorities have implemented emergency orders to stop the spread of the virus.

Citizens are urged to adhere to the 6 pm to 6 am curfew and other health advisories published.