Major strides made in clearing backlog of tests

Officials at the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory have worked assiduously to clear the backlog of PCR tests, which has been a major concern for citizens and visitors who have been waiting for long periods to receive their results.

Minister of Health and Wellness, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic, shared the good news this evening, as he spoke about the backlog during a COVD-19 update and press conference at Ilaro Court.

He said the backlog of just over 7,000 samples “for the most part” had been cleared, and the only samples in the lab from that time period, are samples with no information that “would allow the persons in the lab to be able to do what is required, and I believe that some of those persons might have been re-swabbed, and they are not many”.

Minister Bostic continued: “We have practically cleared the backlog that existed, and we are trying to keep current in accordance with the timelines and so on that we would have established and the lab right now is back to some degree of normalcy.

“If you had to go into the lab now, you would not find all of the samples that were there before.  So, right now, the backlog is an issue that I can say that we have put behind us, except for those few samples that I referred to and the intent now is for us to keep current going forward, and we have put some measures in place to…be able to do that.”

The Health and Wellness Minister reminded the public to join Government in the fight against COVID-19, by observing the health protocols of wearing masks, sanitising their hands, and social distancing.