COVID genome sequencer training delayed by a week – CMO

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE TRAINING to use the recently acquired COVID-19 genome sequencer, which was expected to begin on January 10, has been pushed back by at least a week, with no definitive date as to when that training will commence.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie gave the update while addressing Thursday’s first COVID Conversation online press briefing for 2022.

“In terms of the genome sequencing machine, unfortunately, we are not going to be up next week in terms of the training at the university [University of the West Indies]. We were hoping that, for January 10, they would have been ready to start training, and there has been a delay, which we are hopeful that it will not be a delay of more than a week to start the process, and that training process would involve them actually testing samples,” said Bisasor-McKenzie.

A genome sequencing machine is used to determine the entire genetic makeup of a specific organism or cell type like those of the coronavirus.

The Government of Jamaica had previously acquired the genome sequencer in October, but it has yet to be commissioned because of a lack of trained personnel to operate it. In November, it was reported that the Government has engaged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to get a second genome sequencer.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton told Parliament in November that the second machine would be acquired through lease-funding from the CDC.

In the meantime, Bisasor-McKenzie told Thursday’s briefing that, while some samples which Jamaica had submitted for COVID-19 testing have yet to be returned, those which have been received to date have been confirmed to not have the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Jamaica has recorded 98,194 cases, with 2,486 deaths from the virus.