The government is working on decentralising testing coronavirus in Harare by making use of TB and HIV equipment nationwide to test for COVID-19. The Herald reports.
This was revealed by Epidemiology and Disease Control director in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Portia Manangazira who said:
We now have adequate kits to conduct tests that are required and we have since moved from a position where the NMRL is the only testing institution.
Now, there is going to be many other sites testing, for example, we will be having one or two more centres in Bulawayo, we are also getting support from Chinhoyi University of Technology.
NUST already has a PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) machine and our colleagues are going to give them reagents, but we also have machines that have been testing TB and HIV, the GeneExpert machines. The laboratory guys are getting the necessary cartridges so that they cascade testing almost nationwide.
According to the publication, Zimbabwe has 167 GeneExpert machines, 133 of which are in public health institutions.
More: The Herald