The Ministry of Health and Medical Services this week has released a total 41,000 Rapid Antigen Test Kits from the National Medical Store and distributed in Honiara and the Provinces for COVID-19 testing.
Health and Medical Services Minister, Dr. Culwick Togamana said on Wednesday a total of 149,400 rapid test kits were in stock at the moment, 90,000 of these were delivered by Australia early this week.
A further 300,000 COVID-19 rapid test kits are expected to arrive from China Friday this week.
Minister Togamana thanked the Governments of Australia, China and UNICEF for their ongoing support in the ongoing battle against covid-19 in the country.
A total of more than 28,000 tests had been conducted since the beginning of our response to COVID-19 global pandemic. These tests have contributed significantly to efforts in preventing the entry and spread of the virus in the past two years.
From this total, 3,707 lab tests were conducted at the National molecular Laboratory since the outbreak began in Honiara last month in response to the current COVID-19 community transmission.
In addition, tests were recently conducted in Honiara, Guadalcanal, Malaita, Western and other Provinces.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 laboratory testing capability for Malaita Province using the qPCR and GeneXpert machines is expected soon as arrangements to ship a Bio Safety Cabinet component for lab testing at Kiluufi Hospital is underway.
Currently, Malaita and all other Provinces except Western Province are using the Rapid Test Kits to test for COVID-19.
Source: GCU