The poorest countries will be able to access 120 million rapid and inexpensive Covid-19 tests in the next six months, the WHO and its partners promised on Monday, but on condition that the funds are found.
Read also: Coronavirus: 81 dead in 24 hours, the positivity rate increases again and reaches 7.5%
"
We have an agreement, we have a start of funding and now we need the full amount to be able to buy these tests,
" WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a virtual press conference .
For now, each test costs $ 5, but the WHO and its partners have stressed that the price should fall further as the companies that produce them - for now Abbott and SD Biosensor - ramp up. .
These rapid antigenic tests "
give results in approximately 15 to 30 minutes, rather than several hours or even several days, at a lower price and with less sophisticated equipment
," said the head of the WHO.
They "
are not the panacea
" because they are a little less precise than the PCR tests, admitted Peter Sands, the director of the Global Fund, who added the Covid-19 to the struggles he is already leading against AIDS , malaria and tuberculosis, but "
that will allow (...) to bridge the gigantic gap which separates the rich countries from the poor countries in terms of tests
", he underlined.
The Global Fund will put $ 50 million in the pot.
The delay in testing, an essential tool to control the pandemic and avoid confinement for long weeks, is considerable.
While rich countries perform an average of 292 tests per 100,000 population, low- and middle-income countries only perform 61, and low-income countries, 14. Peter Sands also pointed out that 120 million tests would only suffice for two weeks.
The first order should be placed this week, he said.
The pandemic has claimed more than a million lives worldwide since it emerged in China in late 2019 and has infected at least 33 million people.
