— Min. Anthony says persons tested positive once do not need follow-up test

PERSONS who have tested positive for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) but have shown no signs or symptoms for over 13 days, can no longer transmit the disease, said Resident Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Representative, Dr. William Adu-Krow.
According to the WHO, COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly-discovered coronavirus. Most people, who fall sick with COVID-19 will experience mild to moderate symptoms and recover without special treatment.

The disease, while being categorised as highly infectious, has proven to be less infectious in asymptomatic patients.
Dr. Adu-Krow told the Guyana Chronicle that advice coming out of the WHO, says that after 10 days in quarantine, once a person goes three more days without symptoms, he/she can be sent home because he/she no longer sheds the virus.

“If someone is already in quarantine and they go through the 13 days and authorities ascertain that the last three days symptom-free, the person is free to go,” said Dr. Adu-Krow.

Guyana has so far recorded 1,184 cases of COVID-19, but 636 of those persons have since recovered while 35 persons have lost their lives. Of the remaining cases, 96 persons are in institutional isolation and 413 are in home isolation, while nine persons are being treated in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit.
As the country moves forward in its fight against COVID-19, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, said that persons, who had initially tested positive for COVID-19, are no longer required a follow-up test to be medically cleared for the disease.

Dr. Anthony, during an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI), said: “There is no need for another test because all the guidance that we have received from PAHO/WHO has been for about a month and a half now that there is no need for a second test. We have incorporated that into our guidelines and that is what we have been using.”

He said once persons are tested positive, they will be monitored for ten initial days. Once they are symptom-free, they will be monitored for three additional days and if they continue to be symptom-free then they will be discharged from institutional isolation facilities.
The minister also said it may be out of an abundance of caution, persons are submitting themselves for a second test. However, he suggested this is needless and these follow-up tests would contribute to a backlog.

“This is absolutely unnecessary and …what you will be doing is clogging up the system because you do not need to retest. And for those persons who actually need the test, you are creating a backlog. So, we remind people once you have been in isolation after 13 days you can be discharged if you have no signs or symptoms,” said Dr. Anthony.

DPI reported that, on Monday, August 31, a special flight is scheduled to arrive in Guyana to deliver much needed COVID-19 supplies.
The flight will also be transporting 500 COVID-19 test samples to Trinidad and Tobago. These test samples are being sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) as they will be assisting Guyana in delivering COVID-19 test results in a timelier manner.

Due to a backlog of COVID-19 test samples, persons have to wait more than 48 hours for results. The National Public Health Reference Laboratory has boosted its capacity over the last few weeks to correct this.

Dr. Anthony said that the solution has materialised after engagements with CARPHA, as the Ministry sought ways to clear the backlog. The Minister noted that several measures have been explored and executed to clear the backlog of COVID-19 test samples.

These include more Medical Technologists being trained to run samples, 24-hour shifts being implemented to have more samples processed along with the procurement of an automated Polymerase Chain Reaction Machine which will cut down the testing time from on average of about nine hours to two hours.