WHO Africa: New rapid tests a 'game changer' against COVID
GENEVA (AP) — Health officials in Africa say the rollout of rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19 could be a “game changer” for their fight against the coronavirus but also warned Thursday that increased testing could drive up confirmed cases on a continent that has seen them decline or plateauing as case numbers soar in the West.
Some experts worry that Africa so far has lacked the ability to test widely enough, especially in hard-to-reach rural areas, and that its case counts therefore don't reflect reality and impede tracking the virus.
“African countries are gearing up to introduce antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests on a large scale, and this will be a game changer, we think, in the fight against COVID-19,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, said. “These high-quality rapid tests will help meet the huge unmet need for testing in Africa.”
Speaking from Brazzaville, Congo, at an online news conference, Moeti noted that WHO Africa region comprising sub-Saharan Africa plus Algeria - has seen a downward trend from a daily average of more than 15,000 cases in July to less than 4,000 in the past month -– prompting some governments to pull back from their toughest containment measures.
“As countries ease restrictions on movement, some increase in cases is expected, but preventing an exponential rise is absolutely critical,” she said.
From early on in the pandemic, officials at WHO headquarters in Geneva, including the U.N. health agency's Ethiopian director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, have expressed concerns that COVID-19 could have a big impact on weaker health systems like those in Africa.
However, developed countries with world-class health systems so far have been among the ones hardest hit by virus outbreaks. WHO's 54-nation European...
