Covid-19: Mozambique expects batch of 100,000 tests for the new coronavirus by June

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Covid-19: Mozambique expects batch of 100,000 tests for the new coronavirus by June

3:16 CAT | 11 May 2020

Director General of Mozambique National Health Institute (INS) Ilesh Jani. [Photo: INS]

The Mozambican Ministry of Health expects to take delivery of a batch of 100,000 coronavirus tests by June, the director-general of the National Institute of Health (INS) has announced.

“The process started more than a month ago, and we to take delivery by June of these tests that will help us decentralise testing,” Ilesh Jani said on Saturday.

Currently, tests performed in the INS laboratory in Marracuene take at least 24 hours to deliver results.

Part of the batch of tests are of the type currently processed using Marracuene laboratory equipment, while others can be used in the GeneXpert machines currently used to diagnose tuberculosis in various health units in the country.

Jani explained that GeneXpert devices have the advantage of being easy to use and available in all provinces, although they have the capacity to process only a few samples a day. The machines will however allow for more effective decentralisation, faster response and greater control of the pandemic in the country.

He recognised, however, that the process of sourcing the reagents used by the GeneXpert machines was slow, since the manufacturer had started marketing reagents for these devices only recently and there was a great demand worldwide.

“We (Mozambique) are in the queue, and the process can take a few weeks. The process started more than a month ago, and we hope by June to secure these tests, which will help us decentralise testing. Until then, the tests will continue to be carried out at the INS in Maputo province, using samples from all over the country,” Jani said.

With a total of 18,000 tests in hand, the INS laboratory has the capacity to carry out 600 tests a day, although the process of transport, conservation and treatment of samples sometimes extends the deadline for obtaining results.

Speaking this Thursday in a Covid-19 update, Sérgio Chicumbe, national director for the Health Survey and Observation at the INS, said that decentralisation did not imply any lack of capacity at the INS laboratory, which can perform tests on around 600 samples per day, a level which had not yet been asked of it.

Chicumbe added that the decentralization project also includes the setting-up of more testing laboratories in the central and northern areas of the country, with the one being established in the province of Nampula already in an advanced stage.

By Monday aftrenoon, Mozambican authorities had tested a total of 4,173 suspected cases since the first case in the country, announced on March 22.

As of Monday afternoon, the country registers 103 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 12 new patients testing positive, among whom are the first confirmed cases so far which are not from Maputo City, Maputo Province or Cabo Delgado province

ALSO READ: Just In: Covid-19 cases in Mozambique rise 103; 4 infected in Beira, 1 in Inhambane, 6 in Pemba,1 in Matola

Ainda existem cerca de 18 mil testes da #covid19 disponíveis em #Moçambique pic.twitter.com/lujQWZxNMf

— Verdade Democracia (@DemocraciaMZ) May 4, 2020