Kevin85ify
JF-Expert Member
- Apr 6, 2019
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Kenya will now be the second country in sub Saharan Africa after south Africa that will be able to do mass testing of Covid19 samples.
Kemri has repurposed the Cobas 6800/8800 machines available in government testing facilities in Busia,Nairobi, eldoret, Kisumu, Nakuru, Kilifi and Mombasa to be able to handle at least 35,000 samples in 24 hours from the current 600 per day .
Also 2 private laboratories will be enlisted for the mass testing, since they also have the same machines.
In a twist of irony, response to diseases that brought Kenya to its knees in the last decade — Aids, tuberculosis and a brush with the deadly avian flu in 2009 — is what has enabled this breakthrough.
Also another machine, GeneXpert, uses the Cepheid's Covid-19 test and is able to provide accurate results in 45 minutes,testing for Covid-19 is currently done on viral genetic material obtained from nose and throat swabs using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
Kenya has received praise from the Africa CDC and it's American doppelganger for it's improved laboratory capacity , while the Africa CDC head Dr John Nkengasong, has said that cases in Africa are under reported due to a lack of facilities for mass testing
Kemri has repurposed the Cobas 6800/8800 machines available in government testing facilities in Busia,Nairobi, eldoret, Kisumu, Nakuru, Kilifi and Mombasa to be able to handle at least 35,000 samples in 24 hours from the current 600 per day .
Also 2 private laboratories will be enlisted for the mass testing, since they also have the same machines.
In a twist of irony, response to diseases that brought Kenya to its knees in the last decade — Aids, tuberculosis and a brush with the deadly avian flu in 2009 — is what has enabled this breakthrough.
Also another machine, GeneXpert, uses the Cepheid's Covid-19 test and is able to provide accurate results in 45 minutes,testing for Covid-19 is currently done on viral genetic material obtained from nose and throat swabs using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
Kenya has received praise from the Africa CDC and it's American doppelganger for it's improved laboratory capacity , while the Africa CDC head Dr John Nkengasong, has said that cases in Africa are under reported due to a lack of facilities for mass testing