Arrival of kits to enhance testing of samples for Covid-19

Testing of samples for Covid-19 received a boost after testing materials arrived in the country yesterday, the Health ministry has said.

Prof Matilu Mwau, an infectious diseases expert at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) in charge of testing said the manual testing kits that arrived earlier took long to distribute because of documentation issues, which have since been sorted.

With the shortage of kits, some patients have been waiting for up to three days, causing anxiety.

Giving an update on Covid-19 Wednesday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said reduction in the number of samples tested was attributable to a shortage of kits.

The highest the country has ever tested was 9,000 samples, but it changes depending on the availability of testing materials.

MANUAL REAGENT

“We have continued to upscale our testing and one of the reasons that we have gone down a little bit is because the reagent that has been available has essentially been a manual reagent,” Mr Kagwe said, adding, manual machines limit the number of samples that can be tested in a day, causing delays. 

“I want to apologise to Kenyans, because their results are taking long. It’s not our intention. We’re out to ensure that you get the results as fast as possible,” he said.

With the additional kits, Kenyans will now get their results after 24 hours.

Currently, there are around 30,000 manual kits and about 80,000 abort kits for the automated machines that can last the country two months.

The Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) has been asked to procure an additional 100,000 kits for the manual machines.

DELAY RELATIVE

Prof Mwau said that delay in releasing of the results is relative, and given the number of samples they test in a day, they are operating efficiently.

However, he said they will strive to better manage public expectations.

“For HIV viral load testing, it takes five days and this is considered very efficient. We have learnt that for the coronavirus, when we take 24 hours, it is considered too long but for us in the laboratory it is super-efficient, given the number of samples,” he said.

Kenya Wednesday recorded an additional 544 new positive cases from 5,259 samples tested, bringing the total case-load to 19,125 from a cumulative 289,759 samples tested so far.

Of the new cases, 340 were male and 204 female. The youngest was one year and the oldest 88.

DEATHS

However, 12 people succumbed to the virus, bringing the total death toll to 311.

Also, 113 patients recovered, with 68 under home-based care and 45 discharged from various facilities, bringing the total recoveries to 8,021.

Meanwhile, a draft document by the Health ministry wants mass testing stopped after it emerged that in most areas where the exercise was done,  very few positive cases were recorded,  leading  to a waste of reagents, which are in short supply worldwide.

This means only those with symptoms, their contacts and those in quarantine will be tested.

Dr Patrick Amoth, the Acting Health Director-General said: “...testing everyone who turns up is very expensive.”

Only 10 out of 100 people in targeted mass testing might be positive, leading to wastage. “If we concentrate on those with symptoms, at least the number of the positive cases are likely to be high.”

The new positive cases recorded in 24 counties showed Nairobi leading with 326 cases, and by Kiambu (51).