Home Breaking News Repeat swab of student NEGATIVE, NO evidence of community transmission

Repeat swab of student NEGATIVE, NO evidence of community transmission

187
0
COVID-19 testing. Picture: Knowsley News.
Sponsored Advertisement

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has this afternoon announced that the repeat swab test taken from a student which was initially positive has returned negative on both the GeneXpert machine and the qPCR machines.

There were fears of community transmission on Malaita when the former COVID-19 patient – who was released after eight weeks – was tested positive for COVID-19 Tuesday this week in a follow up test after their release in accordance with the follow-up plan of the Ministry of Health.  The student who was holidaying in his home village on Malaita was brought to Kilu’ufi hospital by the Ministry of Health to undertake his review and re-swabbing on 26th January 2020. He was perfectly healthy and was not sick. The swabbing was a planned follow-up by the Ministry of Health.

Sogavare said the swab was transferred to the Molecular Lab in Honiara on the same day and showed a positive result on the GeneXpert machine on the evening of 26th January.

Sponsored Advertisement

He said the National Health Emergency Operation Centre [NHEOC] then moved to locate, re-swab and re-admit the Student.

 The NHEOC located the student who had travelled to Honiara by boat, within 3 hours of being advised of the result. They collected, swabbed, and admitted the student to the Field Hospital in rapid time.

“I am very happy to inform the nation that the result of the repeat swab taken from the student tested NEGATIVE on both the GeneXpert machine and the qPCR machine.

“This simply means the student did not have COVID-19 at the repeat testing at around 11pm on 26th January 2021.

The NHEOC had also moved to urgently deploy of a field team to the student’s village to conduct urgent contact-tracing, awareness sessions, and to collect swabs from every individual in the village the student stayed in.

Sogavare said: “We will await the results of the swabs collected at the student’s village before making further assessment and announcements on the risk level and what additional actions might need to be taken.”

He said: “Based on feedback from the student, and the people our field team spoke to during the contact tracing, it is our view that the risk of a COVID-19 community transmission is still low.”

What you think?

Sponsored Advertisement
Solomon Water