Advertise

Advertise

Kenya to use rapid test kits as global supply of reagents drops

 

Kenya will use rapid Covid-19 test kits amid dwindling global supply of reagents, the government has announced.

The World Health Organization gave emergency approval in September for the tests that can diagnose Covid-19 within 15 minutes. The aim is to help address the shortage of access to the recommended PCR test kits due to the global demand, especially in low and middle income countries.

Earlier last month, the Ministry of Health ruled out the possibility of using the rapid kits on the grounds that they are not as efficient as the standard PCR kits.

Health director general Patrick Amoth had, however, noted that a final decision would be arrived at once the ministry received communication from the WHO.

But as an upsurge of the virus continues to be witnessed across the globe, the demand for the reagents and test kits has posed a challenge to many countries in terms of accessibility, making the rapid kits the best available option.

“Our testing capacity is influenced a great deal by the supply of the reagents from outside Kenya. Sometimes, like now, because of the situation in America you will find that we have challenges with testing,” Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said.

“What we do is that when those challenges come then we do strictly targeted testing, and the beauty now is that we are going to start using the recommended rapid kits from the WHO. We are waiting for those in the next two weeks or so we start rapid testing.”

The WHO approved the tests by SD BioSensor, a South Korean company. Similar to the pregnancy test, the kits display two blue lines to indicate positive.

Under the initiative, 120 million rapid tests will be supplied at a cost of Sh500 or less. It is not yet clear, however, how many kits Kenya is expecting to receive in two weeks.

The country is now facing a second wave of the disease, with cases as high as 1,000 reported in a single day, and the positivity rate having jumped from less than five per cent to 15 per cent.

Those expected to benefit the most are healthcare workers who are highly exposed to the virus by the nature of their work.

The tests will allow for mass screening in this category of people, as well as in schools, universities and workplaces.

Under an agreement with the Gates Foundation, companies will be required to make 20 per cent of their products available to low and middle income countries.

 While the tests will not pick up all cases, they could allow many infectious people to be identified before they have symptoms and go into quarantine.

“The new highly portable and easy-to-use test will provide results in 15 to 30 minutes instead of hours or days,” WHO director general Tedros Ghebreyesus said.

No comments

Translate