Dakar and London Develop a Rapid Test Kit for Coronavirus

UK-based laboratory Mologic is working with scientists in Senegal to make a diagnostic test for coronavirus that can produce test results within 10 minutes. The handheld device is the first diagnostic kit developed in the UK to be jointly-manufactured in Africa. The laboratory said it was working with the Pasteur Institute in Dakar and five other international research organizations to authenticate the test kits that will be produced by DiaTropix, a manufacturing facility also in the West African nation. Results from samples being tested for the novel coronavirus can be ready within a day in areas with laboratories that have the capacity to do it. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has ordered schools to close throughout the country in an attempt to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The closure starts immediately and will continue until 5 April, and includes primary schools, crèches, vocational training centres, universities, and koranic schools in both public and private sectors. The decision followed the confirmation of the first coronavirus death in Algeria. A 67-year-old man died in hospital in Blida, south of Algiers. No further details were released.

SOURCE: CNN