By Umaru Fofana
There appears to be disagreement over whether or not to go ahead with retesting 85 Sierra Leoneans who were deported from Kuwait last week. In a controversial test result, 67 of them tested positive for the coronavirus leading to puzzlement or even bewilderment from especially Sierra Leone’s ambassador to the Middle East country, Haja Isata Thomas, who told Politico that they had all tested negative at the airport before boarding the plane.
The head of the COVID-19 response, Brig (Rtd) Kellie Conteh told Politico on Sunday that he had ordered retesting on all the returnees.
Even though he said that he had confidence in the country’s testing regime which he described as vigorous and the kits among the best in the world, he said he was happy to carry out another test on the people amid the controversy.
“We have collected two samples from each of all the 85 arrivals, and two laboratories will carry out the retest”, he said.
However, at the daily COVID-19 press briefing yesterday, spokesman Solomon Jamiru, said thus: “Our position is that Sierra Leone is using the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) which is the gold standard recommended by World Health Organisation. And the professionals that we have relating with this testing model are some of the finest, some of the best you can talk about anywhere in the world. We believe in the system we are using.”
He continued: “If Brig Kellie Conteh, as the Coordinator for the response, has spoken about retest, it might have been an expression of some form of willingness. But the official position of NACOVERC – the national Covid-19 emergency response centre – is we believe we are using the right testing method… as opposed to the…rapid diagnostic test…And so we rely on our professionals, we rely on the figures, the samples obtained and the analysis done and the test result that has been communicated. We are standing by those test results…And that is the official position of Sierra Leone.”
Some have interpreted this as a turnaround from the earlier stance of Brig Kellie Conteh whose call for retest seemed to have gained traction with many members of the public, especially when more than 200 Ghanaians who were in the same situation all tested negative back home in Accra.
Ambassador Haja Isatu Thomas therefore expressed puzzlement over the positive test results on Sierra Leone’s own deportees.
She told Politico that each of the deportees tested negative at the airport in Kuwait and was issued with a certificate before they were allowed to board the waiting flight. She said the same protocol was followed for hundreds of Ghanaians and Guineans who were also deported.
All the more than 200 Ghanaians have reportedly tested negative in Accra after they were subjected to another test at home. The Guinea deportees are said to be quarantined in a hotel and are to be tested in Conakry.
Ambassador Thomas said they all flew direct to Freetown “without transiting anywhere”, wondering how they could have tested positive on arrival in Freetown.
The testing at the airport in Kuwait lasted 15 minutes, prompting the EOC in Freetown to say that could have been rapid testing that is not as efficacious as the PRC one done in Sierra Leone.
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