Mobile covid19 test sites being considered

GOVERNMENT is considering doing mobile testing for covid19.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh made this disclosure in response to a question in the Senate on Tuesday from Opposition Senator Wade Mark.

"We are looking at the feasibility of that, especially now that we have the rapid antigen tests."

Deyalsingh said these test kits were brought through the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and have been validated by PAHO and the World Health Organization.

The kits have been placed in Tobago, Sangre Grande and the Trinidad Public Health Laboratory (TPHL) in St Clair. Deyalsingh said they are undergoing additional validation by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and personnel are being trained to use the kits.

Once that exercise is complete, the kits will be distributed to different locations in TT. Deyalsingh hoped this would happen within the next two weeks. Since the start of the pandemic earlier this year, Deyalsingh said, covid19 testing has improved.

"The number of testing sites has increased significantly, from one to seven, in the public sector."

These include the UWI virology lab at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex at Mt Hope and the Medical Research Foundation, which each do 400 tests daily.

He also identified the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) and South West RHA, which do 200 and 100 tests daily, respectively. The Tobago RHA, Eastern RHA and TPHL each do 50 tests daily.

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