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Minister Anthony- Covid-19 home testing not accepted for international travel

Testing Sign at Airport

Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony revealed that Guyana is now introducing the COVID-19
home test, and while some persons may choose this option to know their status, it is not enough
to fulfill international travel requirements.

Dr. Anthony disclosed this during the daily Covid-19 update on Wednesday. “Someone having a
home kit and doing a test at home does not necessarily qualify or meet the requirements for
travel. No country right now is accepting anybody who has tested themselves at home for travel
and we are not changing our guidelines to accept that,” the minister said.
He continued, “Self-testing is a concept that you have in different countries, our travel
requirements are very explicit, we are accepting an antigen test from a reputable institution
where it’s done or a PCR test. There is something now called a rapid PCR and we are also
accepting that, so any of these three tests we are accepting.” The health minister disclosed that
this requirement is in place for both arriving and departing travelers.
He noted that so far there have been 77 imported cases of Covid-19 in Guyana. In addition,
minister Anthony said that persons who opt for the self-testing and are found to be COVID-19
positive should report it to the Health Ministry.
“With self-testing it’s a way of just, if you have any concerns, to check to see if you are positive
or negative. First of all, I think not a lot of people would be doing it, and those who would be
doing it, I think they would be responsible enough, if they test positive, report it to our
surveillance system,” he explained. Dr. Anthony said that when the report is made, the ministry
would then determine if a second test is needed.
Meanwhile, he said that the number of positive cases in Guyana continues to decline as only 105
new cases were recorded over the last 24 hours, with 1,277 active cases. Currently, 76 persons
are hospitalised with the disease, with 59 at the Ocean View hospital, eight of which are in the
ICU.