Open AccessDiagnostics for COVID-19: A case for field-deployable, rapid molecular tests for community surveillance
Author(s) -
Michael Frimpong,
Yaw Ampem Amoako,
Kwadwo B Anim,
Hubert Senanu Ahor,
Richmond Yeboah,
Joshua Arthur,
Justin S Dakorah,
Delphine Gborgblovor,
Samuel Akrofi,
Phyllis Sekyi-Djan,
Michael Owusu,
Augustina Angelina Sylverken,
Tabea Binger,
Richard Odame Phillips
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ghana medical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2616-163X
pISSN - 0016-9560
DOI - 10.4314/gmj.v54i4s.11
Subject(s) - covid-19 , medicine , pandemic , outbreak , contact tracing , transmission (telecommunications) , medical emergency , environmental health , diagnostic test , health care , personal protective equipment , emergency medicine , disease , computer science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , virology , pathology , telecommunications , economic growth , economics
Across the globe, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is causing distress with governments doing everything in their power to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) to prevent morbidity and mortality. Actions are being implemented to keep health care systems from being overstretched and to curb the outbreak. Any policy responses aimed at slowing down the spread of the virus and mitigating its immediate effects on health care systems require a firm basis of information about the absolute number of currently infected people, growth rates, and locations/hotspots of infections. The only way to obtain this base of information is by conducting numerous tests in a targeted way. Currently, in Ghana, there is a centralized testing approach, that takes 4-5 days for samples to be shipped and tested at central reference laboratories with results communicated to the district, regional and national stakeholders. This delay in diagnosis increases the risk of ongoing transmission in communities and vulnerable institutions. We have validated, evaluated and deployed an innovative diagnostic tool on a mobile laboratory platform to accelerate the COVID-19 testing. A preliminary result of 74 samples from COVID-19 suspected cases has a positivity rate of 12% with a turn-around time of fewer than 3 hours from sample taking to reporting of results, significantly reducing the waiting time from days to hours, enabling expedient response by the health system for contact tracing to reduce transmission and additionally improving case management.