Timely detection of a contagious pathogen is vital to controlling its spread. In response to the emergence of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) the World Health Organization (WHO) is working closely with a network of designated laboratories to ensure that every country has the capacity and resources required to quickly test, report and respond to any suspected cases of the disease, according to the WHO.
Even as WHO officials are distributing resources to combat the outbreak, the number of cases of COVID-19 climbed to over 60,000 while the death toll reached 1,370.
Working largely unseen, in the context of routine disease surveillance or in the event of acute disease outbreaks, laboratories are a vital link in the chain of activities required to keep populations safe from diseases, WHO officials said.
That is why WHO/Europe and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) moved quickly following identification of the novel virus to identify lab needs and capacities in Europe.
WHO/Europe and partners established a roster of six international laboratories in the region to act as regional referral laboratories, providing testing support to laboratories working at country level. These labs are located in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom.
After China released the full virus sequence, the first protocol for diagnostic testing of samples collected from potentially infected patients and their contacts became available. This enabled 31 countries in Europe to rapidly establish testing capacities.
The WHO also commissioned the manufacturing of test kits for global distribution to the designated COVID-19 laboratories. WHO/Europe is facilitating a first round of shipment of 192 kits (containing 100 tests each) to 20 laboratories in Europe.
Globally, WHO is making 250,000 tests available to 159 laboratories.
The United States also has been making RT-PCR testing kits available globally, and has sent them to at least 30 countries, Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC said in a news conference Wednesday.
In the United States specifically, state public labs are conducting quality-control testing to make sure the assays work properly in their respective lab before using the tests to evaluate actual specimens. During this process, some states have gotten inclusive results. CDC experts believe “there might be an issue with one of the three assays and we think that maybe one of the reagents wasn’t performing consistently,” Messonnier said. As a result, the CDC is re-manufacturing that reagent.
When asked how long it will take before state labs are testing for COVID-19, Messonnier said that some states—those whose verification procedures run smoothly—might be able to move forward this week, while other state labs will need to wait until new reagents are available.
Countries with no testing capacity can send their samples to the WHO-appointed COVID-19 referral laboratories for testing. WHO officials said COVID-19 laboratories are encouraged to send the first five positive and the first 10 negative COVID-19 samples to their referral laboratories for confirmation of test results.
To ensure rapid and free-of-charge shipment of samples, WHO repurposed the Shipping Fund Project established by the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS).
This rapid expansion of testing capacity is increasing preparedness in each country reduces the risk of infection and spread of the virus, WHO officials said.
