Govt. exploring more options to test for new COVID-19 variants

Feb 04, 2021 News

– engaging PAHO to send samples to CDC

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony.

Kaieteur News – The government is looking to bolster its ability to detect new variants of COVID-19 in Guyana by exploring additional avenues to have test samples sent abroad for genetic sequencing.
This is according to Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, who made the disclosure during the COVID-19 update yesterday.
The new variants of the virus require genetic sequencing to be conducted on test samples taken to properly identify them, but Guyana’s public and private health system lacks the capacity to do so. In light of that, the Health Ministry has fostered an agreement with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to have test samples sent there for genetic sequencing, according to Minister Anthony.
When asked how often test samples will be sent to the Trinidad-based CARPHA for testing, Dr. Anthony stated that the Ministry will be sending at least 10 samples a month. The Minister reminded too that the results could take almost two weeks to arrive.
He added that the government is also exploring the possibility of having test samples sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States of America, through the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The Ministry of Health and PAHO are currently “working it out,” according to Dr. Anthony, and, if that avenue is embraced, it will further enable the identification of the new variants locally, if any.
The first batch of COVID-19 test samples taken locally have been recently sent to CARPHA for testing and the results from those tests are still pending.
As a result, to date, Guyana has not recorded any infections from the new COVID-19 variants. The three variants that have been identified since the last quarter of 2020 were detected in the United Kingdom – a strain commonly known as B-117; the South African strain 501Y.V2 and the Brazilian strain known as P.1.
Further, the Health Minister revealed that government is hoping to incorporate genetic sequencing into Guyana’s health system, but noted that it is a “complicated” thing that may take some time.
Additionally, it was stated that persons would need to be trained to carry out the genetic sequencing.
(Sueann Wickham)

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