Govt Warns Against The Use Of COVID-19 Rapid Test Kits

Health and Child Care Minister Obadiah Moyo on Sunday condemned the selling of unapproved COVID-19 rapid test kits by some individuals, private organisations and pharmacies.

According to Moyo, the test kits do not comply with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) specifications and protocols, saying such tests may produce false results. He said:

… if someone erroneously tests positive through use of unapproved rapid test kits, they will be put in a situation where they will be unnecessarily psychologically affected and labelled as a COVID-19 carrier and will end up following unnecessary clinical management protocols.”

There is talk that our figures (of people) who have been tested are low as compared to other countries. We are testing only those presenting with symptoms synonymous with the coronavirus case definition.

Moyo revealed that the government is set to establish testing centres across the country’s 10 provinces and at all border posts.

Zimbabwe is currently using a testing protocol referred to as polymerase (PCR) chain reaction methods which takes at least five hours for the results to come out.

More: The Herald