A CONFIRMATORY test conducted in the case of the pre-departure COVID-19 positive test result has returned negative.
The Ministry of Health and Medical Services confirmed this today (30th December 2021) in response to an article published in the Solomon Star today about a pre-departure positive case.
According to the ministry, if an initial test is positive, it has to undergo a verification process as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
“This verification process includes confirmatory test and analysis and interpretation by medical experts of the test results as initial results may not be clear and the machine can produce results labelled as positive.
“In the case of the pre-departure COVID-19 positive test result reported by Solomon Star today (30 December 2021), a confirmatory test was conducted using qPCR COVID-19 testing machine and the result returned negative,” the ministry said.
It added that other important considerations and analysis were also made by their team of medical experts to reach the decision that the individual is cleared of COVID-19 and does not pose any risk to the public.
“The reliability of the testing protocol can be clearly seen to date that we have not seen an influx of people at the National Referral Hospital (NRH) Emergency Department, sick with flu-like illness and tested positive for COVID-19.
“This would have been the case if the individual was truly positive for COVID-19.
“In other words, our experts have accurately interpreted the test results hence no advise for lockdown or announcement of a possible community transmission,” the statement said.
Therefore, it reiterated that all analysis of COVID-19 pre-departure test results to date have been negative.
