CMO: 4,000 Chinese covid19 test kits working fine

As countries rush to cancel their contract for the manufacture of covid19 test kits from China, Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram has said the 4,000 kits donated to TT by China are not defective.

In a virtual media press conference on Thursday, he said the kits have been received, are being used by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and they are not the faulty tests other countries bought from China.He said, “To make the distinction in terms of the faulty kits: we are using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) kits, which is not a rapid kit. The faulty kits that have come out and have been circulating in the media are rapid test kits.”PCR testing kits are for detecting and rapidly diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis, a respiratory complication linked to the covid19 virus.He said TT only has PCR kits in stock in the public labs and those are the tests that CARPHA is using.Over the past week, a number of countries have condemned a Chinese company for manufacturing defective testing kits. Countries such as Italy, Turkey and Spain have reportedly complained abour over 50,000 faulty kits from China.Other countries are said to be rushing to cancel their contract with the Chinese company for the kits.