A virologist at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Exploration (KCCR) has discovered that there is a complete backlog of 8000 samples that are nevertheless to be examined.
Dr Augustina Sylverken mentioned the selection of samples they obtain on a day by day basis has improved more than time thus increasing the tension on their screening potential.
“When this pandemic began, we had been just receiving samples in tens, in hundreds then it moved into the 200 to 1000. So now we do working day and evening. Each time you get into our labs, you will surely see people testing,” she instructed Winston Amoah on JOYNEWS’ Upfront demonstrate on Thursday.
“We have maybe a tiny around 8000 but we have given ourselves up to Sunday. Occasionally we can receive 3000, 2500, 1500 but we are capable to examination 1000 – 1500 daily” the virologist extra.
She said that they have established up other screening centres on the KNUST campus and they are performing on setting up a lab at the Komfo Anokye Training Medical center.
“We hope that extremely shortly it will be up and running,” she stated.
Dr Sylverken pointed out that the crew is operating intensively to obvious the excessive in quite tiny time.
She lamented the absence of a technological know-how to empower them speed up screening samples.
“For this individual virus, you need to have a particular containment termed a biosafety stage (BSL) 4 laboratory but for us and Noguchi we have the biosafety stage 3.
“When we get the sample, we do some thing recognized as inactivation for the reason that we cannot get the job done with the stay virus. This enables us to operate on just the genetic element (RNA), to say no matter whether the sample is good or unfavorable,” she spelled out.
She stated that this helps prevent them to experiment the new virus to know more about it.
Ghana’s coronavirus case depend at the moment stands at 2,074 with 212 recoveries and 17 fatalities.
