Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Lacks Reagent To Conduct COVID-19 Tests - Spokesperson

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th April, 2020) The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in the US state of South Dakota is struggling to acquire enough reagents needed to run novel coronavirus (COVID-19) diagnostic tests for its community, spokesperson Remi Bald Eagle told Sputnik.

"We have seven machines that are capable of testing for COVID-19 in our Indian Health Services (IHS) labs, but we lack the reagents to conduct the tests and we have not been told when the reagents would be available," Bald Eagle said.

The spokesperson said the tribe has no confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Friday after it conducted ten tests, but the results of one test are still pending. Bald Eagle noted that the tribe has only 30 tests left.

In addition, Bald Eagle said the Cheyenne River Sioux, as with the rest of the country, is struggling to get the proper protective equipment needed for healthcare workers.

The Navajo Nation, whose territory spans the US states of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus. On Sunday, the tribe said in a press release that it has recorded 354 positive cases with 14 deaths related to the disease.

On Friday, US Vice President Mike Pence said that 1.4 million COVID-19 tests have been administered in the United States.

According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 347,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the United States and the number of deaths has exceeded 10,000.