CMO: Covid19 testing to increase as country reopens

As the population begins to intermingle again, the Ministry of Health is expecting to see a slight increase in virus spread – not necessarily covid19.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said at the ministry's covid19 briefing on Monday that TT could detect up to 15 different viruses, and health facilities were prepared to see what was circulating in the population.

Parasram said covid19 test kits arrived in Tobago over the weekend for testing machines that had been previously obtained. He added that the ministry would send a team to Tobago on Tuesday to train medical staff on its usage for the service to begin there soon.

Last week, TT got another PCR machine from the International Atomic Energy Agency. A PCR or polymerase chain reaction machine, also known as a thermal cycler, is used in laboratories to facilitate temperature-sensitive reactions. Ministry personnel will be trained to use it by the Caribbean Public Health Agency.

“We continue to have our UWI sites where we are building our capacity with our testing as the days go forward," he added, "and we want to ramp up our community testing as we expect as more and more people begin to move.”