Health Ministry reduces backlog of COVID-19 test results

 

The Health Ministry has said it is returning to a 24-hour turnaround time for COVID-19 test results after racking up a huge backlog over several weeks.

 

The backlog reached more than 10,000 after the ministry struggled to keep up with testing following reopening of the borders. 

 

Dr. Michelle Hamilton, Director of the National Public Health Laboratory, says there is still a backlog of about 3,000 cases.

 

However, she says the lab will be processing new samples even as it tries to clear the backlog.

 

Over the next two weeks, we will complete the clearance of the backlog samples. However, from the 25th of July, we started to test incoming samples so that samples arriving from the 25th of July will now be tested within our usual turnaround time of 24 to 48 hours. So there is still a backlog but we are not concentrating solely on the backlog at this time," she revealed.