One month before the announcement of the first COVID-19 case in the country, WHO/PAHO made it possible that a specialist from the National Health Laboratory (NHL) participated in a workshop on diagnosis and detection of the new COVID-19 coronavirus. The workshop, based on the use of molecular technology to detect and diagnose Covid-19, was held at the Institute of Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference of the Mexican Ministry of Health, with financial and technical support from WHO/PAHO. Along with technical training, the Guatemalan representative also received 500 molecular tests. Today, as one of the strengthened capacity benefits from the training, results from test samples can be obtained and analyzed much faster than previously.
WHO/PAHO has also supported NHL to implement protocols for sampling, transport, management and diagnosis of the virus. Plans have been developed and implemented for better situational analysis. Between January and May, WHO/PAHO also donated to Guatemala Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and more than 420,896 molecular diagnostics tests (RT-PCR).