“With the additional testing supplies scheduled to arrive on the BA flight next week, we will be able to test approximately 2,000 persons,” Minister of Health Kim Wilson confirmed during yesterday’s press briefing.
Minister Wilson said, “Regarding testing capability, with the generosity of Roche Bermuda’s supply of two additional testing instruments along with two laptop operating systems to run them, there will be the additional capacity to conduct tests in Bermuda.
“This will heavily ramp up our testing program as we will be looking to add to our current testing facility to offer more widespread screening of our population to combat this viral outbreak.
“With the additional testing supplies scheduled to arrive on the BA flight next week, we will be able to test approximately 2,000 persons. Public Health England, through Crown Agents, have indicated that they will provide this same level of testing capabilities to Bermuda on a weekly basis.
“An additional testing centre will be set up and validated according to WHO guidelines, not only to assist the national diagnostic efforts, but also to expose our Bermudian university students who are already educated in the field, and have previous laboratory experience, to what is certainly an emerging field of work.
“This new laboratory will be under the direction of Dr. Carika Weldon. The new machines and test kits will arrive on Monday on our already announced AirBridge BA flight.”
