The kits for rapid coronavirus testing are expected on island today, Prime Minister Gaston Browne has said.
“Yes they have been purchased, we have spent a few hundred thousand dollars buying covid kits as well as the machines to do the testing and they should be here I believe by Tuesday of this week so that we will be ready by Thursday.”
On June 4th an American Airlines flight from Miami will be the first international commercial flight to land at the VC Bird International Airport since its reopening on June 1.
“The whole idea as well is to set up maybe a couple of mobile testing units at the airport so that we we could test these guests when they come in. There are some who are suggesting we should test them when they get to the hotel, which ever we decide on finally, these individuals will be tested and those who are positive will be isolated,” he told Pointe FM.
However Browne made that point that even people who test negative on the rapid test could have a second test done using the regular method.
“I have to make the point here too that the tests that we are getting are only about 87 percent accurate. So what we have decided to do is test a number of the negative ones using the PCR machines which has a higher level of efficacy, in order to help validate those negative tests and to make sure that if any may slip through that they will be very very few.”
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Amazing you can do these test for tourists but you could not do these tests for Antiguan Citizens over the past 10 weeks.
Oh David! Look at you making all that sense!
I guess sometimes we expect too much from our government.
Even when you have the symptoms here they still don’t offer test.
This PM apparently gets a pass mark for failures after failures. Amazing place call Antigua
these tests test for antibodies. They tell whether you have been infected in the past, not whether you are currently infected
@ David I am hearing the tests are antigen based tests. Hence you really need to do some research and find out how recently antigen based tests became available. Only one was approved by the US FDA mere weeks ago
What if a visitor coming in has proof of a negative test within 72 hours? Will they be required for testing again? Or produces proof of antibodies?
If a visitor tests positive, will they be isolated within the hotel they are staying at or a government facility?
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