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Press Release Freetown 25 July 2020 – The World Health Organization Country Office has secured a grant of €500,000 from the German Technical Cooperation (GIZ) through a strategic partnership to increase COVID-19 testing capacity from 500 up to 1000 tests per day in Sierra Leone

When WHO, National Microbiology Reference Laboratory (NMRL) and Medsure Healthcare teams reached Beitbridge, 640km from Harare, twelve laboratory personnel from Beitbridge Hospital had already tested more than 6000 samples for COVID-19. The tests were done using a GeneXpert machine with cartridges for COVID-19 testing and Real Time- Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, similar to the rapid testing kit used for HIV. GeneXpert machines are normally used to diagnose tuberculosis.  

Hesitancy to get tested, avoiding contact tracers or wariness of what the neighbours will say: the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a variety of reactions among some Ouagadougou residents that have complicated timely response.

The World Health Organization (WHO) today warned of the threat posed by COVID-19 to health workers across Africa. More than 10 000 health workers in the 40 countries which have reported on such infections have been infected with COVID-19 so far, a sign of the challenges medical staff on the frontlines of the outbreak face.