The German Epidemic Preparedness Team (GEPT), on behalf of the government of Germany, has donated Covid-19 extraction and test kits, capable of conducting 1.3 million tests, to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

It was noted that the first batch of the test kits has been handed over to the Africa CDC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Development Diaries learnt that the donation was done to support the implementation of the Africa joint continental strategy for Covid-19, which aims to prevent severe illness and death from the virus in African Union member states.

Additionally, it was learnt that the donation is part of a €10 million worth of non-monetary support by the German government for Covid-19 pandemic response by the African Union.

It was noted that since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, African Union member states have been providing testing services to people suspected to be infected with the disease. However, there was an urgent need to rapidly scale up testing at the community level.

‘Testing is the cornerstone of response to any pandemic, and providing test kits is one way African Union member states can quickly scale up testing. As a continental body, we are working with several partners to unlock the testing space and ensure that countries have predictable access to test kits. The donation by Germany is very critical in achieving the goals of PACT’, the Deputy Director of Africa CDC, Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, said.

Africa CDC and the German Epidemic Preparedness Team, it was gathered, will jointly conduct an external quality assessment at selected reference laboratories in Africa, using the test kits for benchmarking and accreditation of quality and effectiveness of testing.

Source: Ethiopian Press Agency