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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has encouraged countries to use testing to determine if they have the Covid-19 pandemic control within their borders.
At the same time, WHO dashed hopes of coronavirus vaccine coming soon.
WHO Technical Lead for Covid-19 Maria Van Kerkhove said it is not the number of people tested but the percentage that turns positive which shows if a country is testing enough.
“What is the important metric is to look at the percentage of positives. How many of those being tested come back positive. And if that is a high number, then more tests need to be done, as it means we may be missing additional cases,” said Dr Kerkhove during a WHO press briefing in Geneva.
Kerkhove said the question of how much testing was enough was relative and the answer depended on a country’s situation in terms of transmission.
“WHO recommends testing be done on suspect cases in situations where testing capacity is limited or there might not be enough tests or transmission is incredibly intense you may need to prioritise how much testing is being done,” she added.
"In many situations where testing comes back 30, 40 or 50 per cent positive out of all the tests you have done, that means you are missing a large number of cases,” Kerkhove emphasised.
Going by this criterion, Kenya seems to be ‘testing enough’ since even when the country reported the highest Covid-19 cases - 892 - on July 27, the percentile ratio of positive was 10.7.
Putting pressure
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health reported 355 more cases out of 5,724 samples, which brings the percentile ratio of 6.2 per cent. The number of confirmed cases now stands at 32,118.
Ten more people died from the virus, raising the death toll to 542.
Globally, there are now more than 22 million cases of Covid-19, and 780,000 deaths as per WHO latest figures.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom explained that it is not just the number of cases and deaths that matter, as the number of patients who need hospitalisation and advanced care remains high, putting huge pressure on health systems and affecting the provision of services for other health needs.
He noted that while countries might be witnessing some progress in controlling the pandemic, it should not be equated to victory, as several territories are now experiencing fresh outbreaks after long period of little or no transmission.
“That's why it is vital that countries are able to quickly identify and prevent clusters, to prevent community transmission and the possibility of new restrictions. No country can just ride this out until we have a vaccine,” he said.
Dr Adhanom said countries must learn to control and manage the virus using the tools available at the moment to ensure safety.
“A vaccine will be a vital tool, and we hope that we will have one as soon as possible. But there’s no guarantee that we will, and even if we do have a vaccine, it won’t end the pandemic on its own,” said Adhanom.
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