Government to step up viral tracing ability
Article by February 16, 2021
Government is moving to enable the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory to conduct continuous genomic surveillance to detect the presence of other strains of the novel coronavirus on the island, Senior Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health Dr Anton Best has disclosed.
The effort was immediately backed by Prime Minister Mia Mottley during the latest COVID-19 update at Ilaro Court.
Dr Best said that based on a meeting on Saturday with health officials, including representatives from the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners, to examine issues surrounding the lab, the recommendation was made to the wider Emergency Operations Centre on Sunday to do continuous genomic surveillance.
Barbados recorded 63 new positive COVID-19 cases on Sunday, February 14, 2021.
These new positives include results of samples dating back to February 1 as the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory is in the process of reducing the backlog created by the temporary use of manual extraction in the processing of samples. The lab conducted 534 tests.
There were 21 recoveries, bringing the number of active cases to 646.
One person, a 51-year-old Queen Elizabeth Hospital Nursing Assistant, passed away from COVID-19 on Sunday. She was a patient at the Harrison Point Isolation Facility for nine days. The number of deaths from the virus is now 25.
The 63 positive cases comprise 29 women and 34 men. Four of them were at the Harrison Point Isolation Facility undergoing assessment to determine whether their positive PCR test result showed that they were newly positive, or whether they had COVID-19 in the past and were no longer infectious.
COVID-19 UPDATE: 114 cases, 29 recoveries, two deaths barbadostoday.bb - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from barbadostoday.bb Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory reported 114 positive cases of COVID-19, which include results from samples collected between January 29 and February 12, 2021. With the appropriate reagent now in place, the laboratory is in the process of clearing the backlog created due to the temporary use of manual extraction in the processing of samples. These results were identified from among 2 720 tests conducted by the lab on …
There were 82 new positive cases of COVID-19 recorded on Monday, February, 8, 2021 which include results from January 29 to 31. Situations like this may occur occasionally as the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory continues to try to clear the backlog created due to the use of manual extraction in the processing of samples. The Ministry of Health and Wellness is taking measures to have this issue rectified in the …