Belize’s Test Level Satisfactory to W.H.O. Standards

Dean Barrow

For seven weeks, Belize remains free of positive COVID-19 cases. Fifty-five tests conducted on Thursday returned negative for the novel coronavirus.  The Ministry of Health has been carrying out random testing on average three times per week and more than one thousand five hundred tests have been conducted so far. Fortunately, Belize has recorded eighteen positive cases with two deaths. During his press conference today, Prime Minister Dean Barrow said that Belize’s test level is satisfactory to World Health Organization standards.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“As of Wednesday, we had done one thousand five hundred and seventeen tests. There were five results still pending, with all others being negative except for the eighteen you have long since known about. We continue to test on an average of three times per week. The fact that now we don’t test as often as we once did has nothing to do with what that distorted report falsely described as a decision to conserve on supplies. Rather, it is that all the science, according to our Director of Health Services, proves that in our current circumstances testing of asymptomatic people is a low yield exercise. Accordingly, our present test level is entirely satisfactory of World Health Organization standards.”