Implementation of the COVID-19 laboratory testing certification program (CoLTeP), Zimbabwe, 2021.

The Africa Union (AU) Trusted Travel Initiative was introduced in 2021 to support Africa Union member states enhance their current health screening systems. Trusted Travel offers an online digital platform for the verification and authentication of COVID-19 results based on a collaborative effort across a network of participating COVID-19 testing laboratories. In this paper, we describe the certification process of laboratories to qualify for listing on the AU Trusted Travel platform as approved and recognized COVID-19 testing facilities.

An analysis of the COVID-19 laboratory dataset at AiBST Laboratory in Harare, Zimbabwe, 2020.

Introduction: coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a major public health problem and has spread rapidly around the globe since its first identification in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Zimbabwe reported its first case on the 20 March 2020, and since then the disease has spread to almost every part of the country. Laboratory testing is important in controlling this pandemic.

Comparison of Real-Q 2019-nCoV and DaAn Gene 2019-nCoV polymerase chain reaction assays for the detection of SARS-CoV-2.

Background: Various nucleic acid amplification assays for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been developed, and there is a need to assess their test performance relative to one another. The aim of this study was to compare the performance characteristics of the Biosewoom Real-Q 2019-nCoV assay targeting the E and RdRP genes to DaAn Gene 2019-nCoV kit targeting the N gene and ORF1ab in the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2.

Methods: We performed a diagnostic comparison study by testing nasopharyngeal samples for SARS-CoV-2 using the two reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays.