Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony today defended the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as he reported more than 700 new cases and seven additional COVID-19 related deaths.

The Government has come under criticism for refusing to tighten up the COVID-19 measures and reopening the country with no system in place to deal with the surge in new cases that is now taking place.

In response to criticism from the Opposition, the Health Minister said his government has been testing more people for the virus when compared to the previous government. He has been attempting to fight off criticism that the increase in testing has not been matched by an increase in efforts to combat the pandemic.

“I’m not doing like what they did because during their time in Government, what happen was they were doing five tests per day. We are now doing PCR alone 2000 tests and none of the results that we have had we have to hide. I’m not the Minister when people tested positive they have to come to me, that used to happen under APNU and then they decide whether or not they are going to release the results. We do a daily report and report it as it is”, the Health Minister said.

He has admitted that the Health Ministry is now overwhelmed with the situation, forcing the Ministry to discontinue PCR testing at government health facilities.  Only special categories of persons will be administered the PCR tests by the public health care system.  

“This is what we will be doing now, and that is no different from what is happening in the United States, in Canada, the UK, in Australia and many other places. And, so these are standardized that many countries are using”, Anthony said.

The Minister of Health said while the Health Ministry has the capacity to conduct up to 2000 tests per day, he does not believe resources should be wasted.

“What we have noticed is that lots of people who do not require a test are showing up. If you believe that you have been exposed today, even if you want to get tested you can’t come the same day because it’s going to be of no value. You have to wait for the window period. None of the tests that are available will be able to detect the virus one hour after you have been exposed or one day you have been exposed”

Minister Anthony pointed out that some 38,000 persons have been tested so far for this month.  There are currently more than 12,000 active cases of the virus in Guyana.

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