The Pan American Health Organization
Washington, DC. Februuary 10, 2020

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is implementing a comprehensive plan to support country preparedness efforts for the outbreak associated with the new Coronavirus (COVID-19).

This plan includes establishing and strengthening laboratory capacity for early detection of the virus through the public health and reference laboratory networks in the Americas.

The Barbados ‘Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory’ became one of the first in the Caribbean to acquire test kits and reagents for COVID-19 detection, with concurrent training of laboratory personnel in the new testing protocol. The provision of COVID-19 test kits and training were made possible by PAHO Health Emergencies Department, who has worked in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Wellness to enhance national capacity in response to the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

Virus detection requires high complexity tests that identify the specific genetic fingerprint of the virus. To support the implementation of the virus detection in Barbados, PAHO conducted training at the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory.

The two-day training which commenced on 10 February 2020, was facilitated by Virologist, Dr Lionel Gresh. Included in the training was a review of the current knowledge about this novel pathogen, as well as the hands-on implementation of its detection.

A highly-motivated team that included five medical laboratory technologists and the laboratory Director participated in the training, and as a result, Barbados now has the capacity of testing any case that might fit the current testing criteria for COVID-19.