If there are no new COVID-19 cases this week, local authorities may be able to declare Antigua and Barbuda COVID-free, Prime Minister Gaston Browne has declared.
“I say may, because sufficient time would have passed for [the two known individuals with COVID-19] to literally shred the virus,” Browne said Saturday on Pointe FM’s Browne & Browne show.
“I suspect that by this week they would be tested again and that those two individuals should be COVID-free, which means this week we should be able to declare Antigua and Barbuda COVID-free, barring no new cases.”
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases remains at 25, of which 19 have recovered, three have died, and one returned to the United Kingdom.
There are only two known individuals in Antigua and Barbuda who may be positive for COVID-19 at this time, Browne said.
Prime Minister Browne said he is aware there may be some individuals who would argue “how would you know that, in the sense that we need to ramp up our testing and that there may well be carriers of COVID who may be asymptomatic.”
Country will ramp up testing this week
“Indeed, we will ramp up our testing,” Browne assured.
“In fact I’m pleased to confirm that our testing facilities are now operational, that testing would have started last week and went very well.”
He explained that the lab technicians have been testing known COVID cases using known samples from existing individuals who tested for COVID.
Those ‘training’ tests were done under the supervision of a representative from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the findings from those tests would have been consistent with the known results.
“So, those individuals who have tested positive who were tested by our domestic lab technicians were proven to be positive and those who were negative were proven to be negative. So, they tested against known samples,” Browne said.
“What they will be doing from Monday, they will now be testing new cases of COVID, so new individuals will be swabbed this week. The swabs or part of the culture that is taken from the individual will be utilized here for domestic testing, and the other part of it will be sent to CARPHA, because the local lab has to go through a process of validation with CARPHA, and you will find, for example, for the next week that they have to ensure that there is a verification between our results and that of CARPHA. So, our positive tests should correlate with the positive tests of CARPHA. If there is any variation then clearly there’s something wrong.
“By the following week we hope that the lab will be able to test independently of CARPHA and be able to do its own tests, having gone through all of the necessary validations,” the prime minister added.
2 responses to “Here’s why this week is most important in Antigua and Barbuda’s COVID-19 fight”
Alice Phillips
Do y’all remember a movie called friday, next friday, friday after next, well testing in Antigua is a sequel!!!.
Mr brown isnt verse on virus science, so why is he commenting? Why is he forever trying to push the script?
People make sense outta nonsense. Its simple math. No test+ No virus confirmed = Welcome tourists.
Did any of you see our local movie on the television earlier? yep, when you play warri with God…..