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ADDIS ABABA, Dec.17 (Xinhua) – As the African continent witnesses new spikes in COVID-19 cases and deaths, the African Union (AU) Commission has asked its member states to prioritize the launch of rapid tests. antigens as part of an urgent effort to increase the national COVID-19 testing capacity and better manage the pandemic, to achieve test positivity rates of less than 5 percent.
The AU Commission through its specialized health agency, the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa) and its partners, has published a new Guide on the use of rapid antigen tests for COVID-19 response, as part of a strategy to rapidly expand antigen testing for COVID-19 in Africa, according to a statement from the Africa CDC on Thursday.
Together with the Quality Assurance Framework for Rapid SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Tests for COVID-19 Diagnosis and SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Diagnostic Antigen Test Training Materials, Experts Expect May the document help to increase the rapid antigen testing capacity in Africa as quickly as possible.
“We have made significant progress in Africa in terms of testing, but we must recognize that we are not there yet. Antigen testing is a game changer that member states must embrace to boost countries’ ability to scale and scale rapidly. testing with a faster turnaround time to get test results, “said John Nkengasong, CDC Africa Director.
In September 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the use of rapid antigen diagnostic tests in response to the challenges countries face with scaling up testing using nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT). .
NAAT is expensive and often requires more than two days to return test results, severely limiting its widespread use, especially in hard-to-reach communities. Speed of testing and reporting of results to individuals and public health authorities for isolation and contact tracing is essential to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Led by the Africa CDC, this global network of partners has been working hard since September 2020 to source more than 11 million rapid antigen test kits for distribution to AU member states.
Antigen tests are more affordable, easier to use, and provide results in 15 minutes at the point of care.
The new guidance document provides recommendations to health authorities, as well as clinical and laboratory staff in Africa on the use of rapid antigen tests.
The rapid COVID-19 antigen test is recommended as a high-throughput test for individuals with symptoms, high-risk populations, healthcare workers or essential workers and contacts in settings where NAAT is not available or where response time for NAAT results is lengthy.
It is also recommended for use in settings such as borders or points of entry, workplaces, educational institutions, correctional facilities or other closed facilities with suspected or confirmed cases. Final product
