More than 200 tested for Covid-19 locally

THE GOVERNMENT has significantly stepped up its in-country testing since the beginning of June, with more than 200 people tested so far.

This week, the Ministry of Health advised that Covid-19 testing for frontline workers commenced on June 8 in the TCI, and is ongoing.

On Tuesday (June 23), Minister of Health Hon. Edwin Astwood told the House of Assembly that as of June 18, 236 had been tested in the National Public Health Laboratory in Providenciales.

He said the national testing strategy along with its budget has been approved in Cabinet and is being immediately implemented.

The minister refuted claims that no in-country testing is being done.

“I do not understand why persons would misrepresent the facts and state that the minister and persons in the Ministry of Health are not speaking the truth about testing being conducted in the Islands.

“In addition, why are they hoping that the ministry fails in protecting and mitigating against Covid-19?

“The coronavirus is no respecter of persons, it does not care if a person is PDM or PNP, Methodist or Baptist, local or foreigner. It only cares about biology and infectivity.”

Minister Astwood was also quite upset at what he sees as a deliberate attempt by some to make villains of the Ministry of Health and himself.

He questioned why this is so when they are all working hard to ensure the territory remains on the right track as it moves towards the reopening of its borders.

Testing first began in late May, with residents returning to their homes on other islands being given first priority testing.

Many of these tests were negative, with only the first set of positive cases being discovered in the last few days.

On Thursday (June 25), during a Government press conference, Minister of Tourism Hon. Ralph Higgs stated that testing is also being conducted by private institutions.

However, no figures were provided at the time on how many of these tests were completed, or how many came back positive or negative for Covid-19.

The Public Health Laboratory is now prioritising testing for suspected cases of Covid-19, contacts of confirmed cases, clients being referred overseas through the Treatment Abroad Programme, domestic travellers and frontline workers.

The ministry said the method of Covid-19 testing being used by the lab is polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which is the gold standard test for the diagnosis of Covid-19.

As a part of the testing protocol, frontline workers will be tested once and any subsequent tests will depend on the development of symptoms.

According to the ministry, the turn-around-time, which is the amount of time between the receipt of a specimen by the lab and the availability of results, is about 48 hours.

This turnaround time applies to all samples, with urgent samples being given a higher priority with a faster turnaround time.

Meanwhile, anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 - such as fever, cough or shortness of breath - is reminded to stay at home and contact the Ministry of Health hotlines on 232-9444 or 333-0911.