Deyalsingh: Following protocol saved TT

THE CHIEF Medical Officer (CMO) and the Ministry of Health have made the correct decision to ignore the hype surrounding alternative tests and to use only polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to detect covid19, says health minister Terrence Deyalsingh.

Addressing the media at the daily covid19 briefing on Tuesday, he said, "Inaccurate tests can have serious consequences. Incorrect results can indicate people have immunity to the virus when they don't. Both the CMO as a scientist and myself as a policy-maker have been saying that for the past month.

"All 1.4 million people, who we at the ministry hold dear, when we say we must adhere to protocols – I know it may sound dogmatic – but it is adhering to protocols that has saved TT. We must stick to protocols, even though there is public pressure not to do so in the short term," he said.

Deyalsingh was responding to a question on why the country was not using antibody testing, since it was introduced in some other countries several weeks ago.

"Being responsible for the welfare of 1.4 million people, we at the ministry, setting policy, do not have the luxury of latching on to fads, miracle cures, or using untested scientific theories"

He referred to an article published in the Washington Post on Monday. It reported that the US Food and Drug Administration, which had been under fire for allowing more than 100 commercial coronavirus antibody tests on the market without review, moved on Monday to "assert oversight, saying the tests will have to pass agency muster, including meeting standards for quality and accuracy."

He said, quoting the report."'Unscrupulous actors' have been 'marketing fraudulent test kits and using the pandemic as an opportunity to take advantage of Americans’ anxiety.'"

"Even high quality tests have limits and can result in errors."

Deyalsingh said hewas citing this information because "we have been taking a lot of body blows in the past month when it comes to testing.

"I think we can appreciate that the CMO and myself, we made the right decision to stick to CARPHA's gold-standard PCR testing, which is 99.96 per cent accurate."