Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy said that some test results are in for the HINI flu virus and five of the 14 specimens sent abroad have tested negative.

The results were expected, Ramsammy said, adding that the ministry will continue to be vigilant and “hopefully we can keep Guyana H1N1 free”.

Ramsammy had stated earlier in an interview with this newspaper that he does not expect that any of the remaining cases would be positive–two cases had returned negative at the time. But he stressed that systems must be put in place and that his ministry also had to continue testing and adjusting to how the system works.

The World Health Organisation last week declared the flu, which is present in over 70 countries, a pandemic and advised governments to prepare for a long-term battle against an unstoppable new flu virus.

Reports have indicated that Suriname became the latest Caribbean country to report the presence of the virus; 11 members of a sports team that recently visited Trinidad were confirmed to have the virus. Several other Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, Cuba and Barbados have reported the flu’s presence.

Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) across the region recently met during an emergency session to craft protocols specific to the Caribbean on how to tackle the flu virus.

Caricom’s Assistant Secretary-General for Human and Social Development Dr Edward Greene disclosed on Friday that the protocols are to be presented to Caricom Heads of Government when they meet here next month for the regional summit.

Greene, who was addressing the media at the time, emphasized that the protocols that were being developed by the CMOs were not intended to replace the internationally accepted ones, but were vital for the Caribbean.

He said too that the regional concern centres on the impact of the movement of people on the spread of the H1N1 virus.

Further, Caricom Secretary-General Edwin Carrington underscored the grave threat of the flu saying that it should not be taken lightly.