Covid-19 tests carried out by private institutions in Mozambique are not approved by WHO – National Director of Medical Assistance

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Covid-19 tests carried out by private institutions in Mozambique are not approved by WHO – National Director of Medical Assistance

11:25 CAT | 19 Mar 2020

FILE - “The tests currently approved by the WHO for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, which are based on real-time PCR technology to detect genetic material from the virus, are only being carried out at the National Health Institute (INS) headquarters building in Marracuene (34 km from Maputo), and at no costs to citizens,”. said Mozambique's National Director of Medical Assistance. [File photo: Lusa]

At a time when some private institutions in Mozambique are selling alleged tests for the new coronavirus, the National Director of Medical Assistance, Dr Ussene Isse, told @Verdade that the only World Health Organisation (WHO) approved Covid-19 test available in Mozambique “is carried out by the National Health Institute (INS) only”.

@Verdade found that the Hospital Privado de Maputo, the Instituto do Coração and the Joaquim Chaves Laboratory in the City of Maputo have been offering alleged tests for the new coronavirus , charging middle and upper class citizens in a panic over the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic around 7,000 meticais a time, although Mozambique, as of this Wednesday (18), had no infected or suspected patients.

Asked by @Verdade about these exorbitantly expensive tests, the National Director of Medical Assistance made it clear that: “the tests currently approved by the WHO for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, which are based on real-time PCR technology to detect genetic material from the virus, are only being carried out at the National Health Institute (INS) headquarters building in Marracuene (34 km from Maputo), and at no costs to citizens”.

“There are rapid tests for the detection of antibodies, which may appear in poorly regulated markets (like ours), the use of which we do not advise, as they have no well-documented sensitivity or specificity,” Dr Isse added.

Doctors at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in China said on Wednesday (18), during a video conference sharing experience with their African colleagues, that they never used rapid tests because, to detect if a person is infected by the new coronavirus, and unlike other flu pandemics, “in an initial infection state, if the sample is not sufficiently well collected, or with the necessary genetic material, the result may come back [as a false] negative”.

By Adérito Caldeira

Source: A Verdade