Government will this week purchase thousands of rapid-result COVID testing kits as the country prepares to begin receiving returning nationals and tourists in early June.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne says Antigua and Barbuda has amended a CARICOM protocol for receiving tourists, to one that would work for Antigua and Barbuda.
“There’s a CARICOM protocol, which calls for testing before the tourist comes to the country, we have actually amended that in terms of our own protocol and we have decided that it’s probably impracticable for some tourists to get the test on a timely basis within the 48-hour period,” the nation’s leader said Saturday on Pointe FM’s Browne and Browne Show.
“What we will do is we will provide the rapid test for those who come here. So, the tourists who come to this country, they will be required to do a raid COVID test. In fact we will be importing a few thousand test kits next week.”
Some have questioned the effectiveness of the rapid test kits in capturing a satisfactory number of accurate results.
Earlier in May, an Ottawa biotech company voluntarily recalled a rapid test for COVID-19 after Health Canada expressed concern about its effectiveness, dealing a setback to expanded testing in that country.
“Those test kits, they are improving in terms of their efficacy,” prime minister Browne said.
“There is a particular one that we are looking at that has about an 87 percent efficacy. And whereas there is some level of risk, we feel that it will be a minimal amount and we have the capacity to manage the few COVID cases that we could end up with.
“So the testing will take place here and it will be mandatory,” he said.
Mandatory 14-day quarantine for returning nationals
Meanwhile, the prime minister said returning nationals will be required to quarantine on a mandatory basis.
“They have no choice, they have to quarantine for 14 days,” the prime minister stressed.
“The reason why we are ensuring that the returning nationals quarantine for 14 days is because the risk of transmission to the domestic population is far greater, and certainly the risk of community spread is greater with returning nationals because they are coming among us to live.
“For the guests, if ideally we could have quarantined them for 14 days we would have, but if a guest is coming here for seven days it’s impossible to quarantine the guest for 14 days. That is not a practicable solution.
“That is why we will do the testing. If someone tests positive for COVID using the rapid results test … then we’ll have it validated using the PCR. In that case the person will be quarantined,” the prime minister explained.
(This article was written by 268 TODAY journalists)
2 responses to “Thousands of rapid-result COVID testing kits to be purchased this week ahead of airport reopening”
Kee Adams-Jarvis
Cue the drama. Using a test that doesn’t test for viruses to test for a supposed virus. Just quit testing and stop making a fool of yourselves and others.