Mozambique: No shortage of Covid-19 tests

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Mozambique: No shortage of Covid-19 tests

8:02 CAT | 28 Jul 2021

Foto-Notícia-24-05-2020-Ilesh-Jani-1024x682

File photo: MISAU

There is no shortage of Covid-19 tests in Mozambique, according to Ilesh Jani, Director of the National Health Institute (INS).

Interviewed in Tuesday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”, Jani said “We have 86,000 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 904,525 rapid antigen tests”. In addition to these stocks, there are smaller amounts in private laboratories and health units.

So how was it that users of the health service are complaining that, when they go to be tested they return home empty-handed because of an alleged shortage of tests?

“That’s not because there is any lack of tests”, said Jani. “The existing stock is enough for three months”.

He added that the strategy of the health authorities is changing, with the planned replacement of PCR tests by the rapid antigen tests. This strategy was first tested in Tete province, and is now being used in the Greater Maputo Metropolitan Area. It will soon be extended to all the other provinces.

“The idea is that we stop using the PCR tests, because they are complex, due to the need to transport the samples to distant laboratories”, he said. “In a wave of high transmission of the disease, we shall bank on the rapid tests”.

The PCR tests are regarded as the most reliable form of testing for Covid-19, and counties across the world (including Mozambique) are demanding that travelers present a negative PCR test before they are allowed to enter.

But it can take days before the result of a PCR test is known, whereas a rapid test delivers results within 15 minutes or so. The rapid test does not prove that a person is currently infected with the coronavirus, but shows whether he or she has been in contact with the virus in the recent past, thus indicating the extent of the spread of the virus.

Source: AIM