Guizhou: Brussels: Some 120 million rapid tests for COVID-19 will be made available to poorer countries at $5 each, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced- if it can find the money.
The WHO said the $600 million scheme would enable low- and middle-income countries to close the dramatic gap in testing for the novel coronavirus, which has now killed more than a million people since first being recorded in December.
The quick tests, to be distributed across 133 countries over the next six months, are not as reliable as the regular PCR nasal swab tests, but are far faster, cheaper and easier to carry out.
“We have an agreement, we have seed funding and now we need the full amount of funds to buy these tests,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Last week, the WHO issued the first emergency-use listing for a quality, antigen-based rapid diagnostic test (RDT), with others expected to follow.
“A substantial proportion of these rapid tests – 120 million – will be made available to low- and middle-income countries,” said Tedros.
“These tests provide reliable results in approximately 15 to 30 minutes, rather than hours or days, at a lower price, with less sophisticated equipment.” -The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
