WHO Africa aims to drastically increase COVID-19 testing

Modeling done by the World Health Organization estimates that 6 in 7 COVID-19 infections in Africa go undetected. That places the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases on the continent as high as 59 million — as opposed to the more than 8 million that have been reported.

To counter this, the WHO Regional Office for Africa on Thursday announced a new initiative to enhance community screening in eight countries. The initiative aims to reach more than 7 million people with rapid diagnostic tests in the next year.

WHO has disbursed $1.8 million to the participating countries: Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, Senegal, and Zambia.

Why it matters: About 70 million COVID-19 tests have been administered by African countries. By comparison, the United States — with about a third of the population of Africa — has administered over 550 million tests.

“It's vitally important to have a better grasp of where and how the virus is circulating in our communities,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa.

“Most tests are carried out on people with symptoms, but much of the transmission is driven by asymptomatic people,” she said. “Estimates suggest that between 65% and 85% of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic. The reported cases we see could therefore just be the tip of the iceberg.”

What’s next: The new initiative will use a "ring strategy," which will target people living within a 100-meter radius of each new confirmed case for voluntary testing.

“For the end to be in sight, vaccination rates must dramatically increase, case management capacities should be expanded and basic public health measures — including active case finding and testing — should be reinforced,” Moeti said.