World Health Organization or WHO is strengthening its support to countries in the detection and management of suspect cases of corona virus and in ensuring a robust response, should a first case be detected in the African region.
This came after it received dozens of alerts regarding possible corona virus infections from 20 countries.
‘A new virus is always a challenge and most laboratories in Africa lack the key material they need to perform tests on a novel pathogen,’ said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
He added that ‘WHO is working with countries to rapidly scale-up diagnostic capacity for 2019-nCoV. It is crucial that countries in the region can detect and treat severe cases early, preventing a widespread outbreak, which could overwhelm fragile health systems’.
He said WHO has identified 13 top priority countries in the region, which due to their direct links or high volume of travel to China need to be particularly vigilant for the novel corona virus.
The director said WHO plays an active role in supporting countries to coordinate preparation efforts and surge staff have arrived in seven of the 13 countries and by the end of the week teams are expected to be in place in all.
WHO is dispatching protective equipment for health workers, thermometers and other essential supplies for screening and handling suspect cases at airports and other points of entry.
While the top priority countries are WHO’s first areas of focus, the organization will support all countries in the region in preparing for corona virus.
WHO is engaging with partners to support preparedness in community awareness raising and increasing treatment capacity should the need arise.
Until early this week, there were only two laboratories, one in Senegal and other in South Africa which have been working as referral laboratories around the region.
Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria and Sierra Leone have now reported they can conduct tests as well.
WHO is sending kits to 29 laboratories in the region to ensure they have diagnostic capacity for corona virus and can support testing samples from the neighbouring countries.