Kenya to test more people for COVID-19 after receiving special kits » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 11-The government will now be able to test over 7000 people for COVID_19 in the next two to three weeks after receiving special testing machines from Roche diagnostics.

Acting Health Director-General Dr Patrick Amoth said the special machines will be distributed to different health facilities including KEMRI and the Influenza center where tests will be done and results provided in a shorter time.

“One of those machines can be able to do two to three thousand tests in a about one to two hours in one facility. So, if you multiply that to the number of facilities that we will be able to deploy, then you can see there is  a huge potential,” Amoth said during a media briefing Saturday.

He pointed out that after the mass testing, the government will be able to establish whether it is winning the fight against coronavirus.

“Even as a Ministry we are trying to procure more testing kits so that we utilize these machines to reach a bigger population so that we can be able to tell where we are for sure and whether we are winning this battle or we need to change our strategy,” Dr Amoth said, and appealed to Kenyans to maintain personal hygiene, observe social distancing and stay at home.

On Friday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said Health Care workers and doctors will be given first priority in testing as they are on the frontline in combating the spread of the coronavirus.

Thousands of people have so far been tested since the first case was confirmed in the country on March 13.

The country had recorded 192 confirmed cases with 24 recoveries and 7 deaths by Saturday.

Globally, more than 1.3 million people are infected while more than 100,000 have died, 20,000 of them in the US.