Delayed results on Delta variant due to demand load

The Ministry of Public Health attributed this Wednesday the results that will determine if the Delta variant circulates in the country to the high demand for tests that international laboratories have that detect the new variants.

“At the moment the collaborating centers that carry out sequencing in the American continent are very few, that is, the amount of samples they receive is enormous because other countries are also sending them,” said Ronald Skewes, general director of epidemiology.

At least 80 samples were sent to the United States on May 17 to be examined to confirm the circulation of new strains of the virus; however, the results are still unknown.

He indicated that as the laboratories process the samples, they will give the results “while we wait for our turn” and the diagnosis.

“We have to send part of the samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, United States and other samples to the Fiocruz laboratory in Brazil,” he said.

Equipment

He also stressed that the ministry is taking steps so that the Dr. Defilló National Laboratory has the necessary equipment to carry out the type of investigation in the samples and thus detect the different variants of covid that are possibly circulating in the Dominican territory.

“We already have part of the equipment and the process to carry out the type of process will be streamlined. It is being managed so that this laboratory is a regional collaborator for genomic sequencing,” expresses the specialist.

He noted that they would sequence weekly coronavirus samples to keep an eye on the variants when it is ready. There are also the possibilities of offering the services to other countries.