Cuban brigade makes Covid-19 tests in Venezuela

Experts from the Cuban medical mission in Venezuela are currently making the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests to detect Covid-19 from a modern molecular biology laboratory.

Specialists in epidemiology, microbiology, biochemistry and virology from Cuba, with high qualifications and experience in handling cutting-edge technology, are working in real time to detect the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen.

Daysi Figueredo, head of the 13th brigade of the Ernesto Che Guevara Contingent, told Prensa Latina the commitment and dedication by the 28 Cuban health professionals who work in that laboratory, where PCR tests are made to Cuban collaborators and Venezuelan patients.

The laboratory, located at the Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez National Center for Medical Genetics, in Guarenas parish, Miranda state, has the most demanding biosafety conditions, technology and trained personnel to process around 1,000 tests daily.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Cuban health teams deployed in Venezuela communities have made about 2,100,000 diagnostic tests, around 70,000 per million inhabitants, to detect outbreaks of Covid-19.

To date, the Venezuelan authorities have reported 92,325 cases, 94% of which have recovered, while 801 people died from the disease.