AS the fight against the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic rages on, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, has said that home/self-test kits will soon be rolled out across the country.

“Right now in Guyana, we are introducing that and there are some people who would buy kits and would follow the guidance,” Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, said during Wednesday’s edition of the COVID-19 update.

The minister said self-tests are a way for persons who are at home, to determine whether they have COVID-19 without visiting a testing facility.
He advised that persons who would be utilising the self-test kits should be responsible enough to report to the Ministry of Health’s surveillance system if they test positive for the virus.

The minister said during the update that when those persons report their status, authorities will determine whether a second test needs to be done.
“When that report is made, we would then determine whether we need to do a second test or not but at that point that determination would be made. So, if somebody would have used a self-testing kit and they are positive they should report it so we would have it in our count,” he said.

Meanwhile, when asked whether officials will accept COVID-19 home kit results as a form of clearance for travel to Guyana, the Health Minister said that the country’s travel requirements are very explicit.

To this end, he said that they will only be accepting antigen tests, from reputable institutions or laboratories along with PCR tests and now rapid PCR tests.