Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony has said that the COVID-19 testing backlog has been significantly cleared and the processing time for samples that have recently been collected should be faster.
During a COVID-19 update, Dr. Anthony reported that the testing backlog that once stood at 1,900 samples awaiting processing has been significantly reduced. “I’m happy to report… that we actually have cleared that backlog and therefore as samples come in we have the capabilities of processing the samples,” he said. He added that if a lot more samples are received, then they experience a bit of a backlog at the National Public Health Reference Laboratory but presently a lot of the samples that were there have been cleared.
Dr. Anthony indicated that they were able to do so by outsourcing processing of the samples, 500 of which were sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA). He mentioned that just over 450 of the results were returned.
