Central Lab Working to Clear Backlog of Samples

Marvin Manzanero

So the new number of cases is fifty-eight.  The Belize Central Medical Lab has been churning out COVID-19 test results every day.  And despite their best efforts, the samples have been piling up as the positive cases increase and network of contacts become wider.  But Director of Health Services, Doctor Marvin Manzanero says that the backlog should be cleared by the end of this week.  As you would have noticed, there has been ongoing mapping and contact tracing exercise across the country, particularly in the red zone communities with a focus on the north. On Wednesday, DHS Manzanero explains the backlog.

Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services

“I believe we should be able to clear up most of that backlog by Friday. Today, in the sample processed, two hundred and sixty-six samples processed from yesterday to today. We changed the infographic a little so that we can give people the data a little around midday or two o’clock the latest. So, that is data that is routinely completed almost all of it the day before. So, for example, the two-sixty-six we reported, some of it came out last night and some came out in the early hours of this morning. So, as we speak there is another batch that we are processing – and so we anticipate that by Friday we will be able to process that backlog and whatever starts to pop up is what we are able to hope to keep up with.”