The $ 1 Covid-19 quick test kit will change the situation

According to Bloomberg, the SAR-CoV-2 virus test kit for 10 minutes, priced at $ 1, will help the fragile health systems of countries like Africa confront Covid-19 more effectively.

Struggling with chicken pox tests and Lassa fever, Nigerian molecular biology engineer, Nnaemeka Ndodo still worked hard until midnight in the early days of March to find out if the 6 Chinese construction workers had infected with SAR-CoV-2.

Ndodo collected samples from a hospital an hour's drive from Abuja, then waited for 6 hours for the results of the only laboratory that could test the virus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria, the nation. Africa's most populous country.

Nnaemeka Ndodo (outmost, right) and colleagues are racing against SAR-CoV-2 tests in Nigeria.(Photo: Bloomberg).

Over the past three months, Mologic, a UK-based company, has collaborated with the Pasteur Dakar Institute (Senegal), working on ways to shorten testing time to 10 minutes. This is the tool that helps the continent with the world's most fragile health care system cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under limited physical and human resources, health agencies are racing to stop the spread of disease in Africa, which accounts for just 1% of global health costs but carries 23% of the burden. diseases, including hundreds of thousands of deaths each year from malaria, HIV / AIDS and tuberculosis.

Faster, cheaper

Only 36/54 countries on the continent are capable of testing for SAR-CoV-2 virus. The spike in suspected cases could overwhelm laboratories there. On March 15, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he had partnered with Chinese billionaire Jack Ma to support 10,000-20,000 test-kit, 100,000 masks and instruction manuals. for every African nation.

Ethiopia-based Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to deliver 200,000 test sets across the continent next week, mainly from TIB Molbiol GmbH, a pharmaceutical company based in Berlin (Germany).

'There is no shortage of test-kit in Africa, but what we want is a faster, cheaper test to quickly confirm if an outbreak is occurring and localize it before an outbreak,' says Ms. Rosanna Peeling. said the president of diagnostic research at the University of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 'It is still a luxury to Africa, unlike Europe and North America.'

This is the reason Mologic comes to this area. Using technology from fetal testing and home malaria, the SAR-CoV-2 test kit by taking their saliva and finger-prick (getting blood on a capillary in their fingers) can be ready. sold in June for less than 1 USD.

In Africa, they will be produced in Senegal by diaTropix, a facility built by the Pasteur Institute director, Amadou Alpha Sall.

'We guarantee that these kits are sold at the cost of production,' said Joe Fitchett, Mologic's Medical Director. The company received a grant of US $ 1.2 million from the British government to develop the test-kit.

8 million test sets per year

The SAR-CoV-2 virus, detected through a routine DNA test, can take several hours and costs over $ 400 in some private facilities.

Since the mysterious disease appeared in China, more than 150,000 people have been infected globally, the world economy is in turmoil, many countries have closed their borders and sealed off the city.

The United States, with its abundant resources and advanced medical technologies, has failed to meet the test requirements in the context of a surge in infections.

Covid-19 has spread globally.(Photo: Bloomberg).

Despite the relatively slow spread of the virus in Africa, the number of patients increased last week in Egypt, Senegal and South Africa. With a total of nearly 200 cases in more than 20 countries, most patients have traveled to Europe recently.

Mologic and the Pasteur Institute have the capacity to produce 8 test kits a year. They plan to sell directly to African governments, the Global Vaccine and Vaccine Union and WHO, Fitchett said. Mologic is seeking to acquire a facility to increase production capacity to 20 million test-kit / year.

The training of medical units has also been strengthened. Fifteen laboratories in Africa have received virus diagnostic guidance from the Pasteur Senegal Institute. South Africa and 12 other countries in the region also enhance their testing capacity.

In Nigeria, health officials try to speed up testing by training staff at public laboratories, said Chikwe Ihekweazu, head of the Centers for Disease Control. The country is negotiating with partners and donors to have more test-kits after confirming two cases of SAR-CoV-2 virus infection.

'Rapid testing could be the factor that changed the battle for us,' Ihekweazu said. He added that symptoms similar to malaria, a common disease in Africa, could complicate early diagnosis.

Before 2017, Nigeria had only one flu testing site inside a refurbished container. The laboratory was then moved to a three-story building called the National Reference Laboratory.

'We are constantly working , ' says molecular engineer Ndodo, after testing new machines inside modern laboratories. 'Need to continue the job. We will overcome this disease. '

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