The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation present new tools for COVID 19 testing

Just recently the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation published a video about new tools available for COVID-19 testing.  

- We need to get all the health tools out to the entire world. Diagnostics are very key because you can identify who's spreading the disease and change behavior. This diagnostic, the LumiraDx, is amazing, said Bill in the video.

The main benefit of the LumiraDx test is that according to Bill Gates, it is much cheaper and smaller in size than the diagnostic tool we’ve had before.

It being more affordable, of course, means that the third world countries will be able to purchase it and secure their citizens the needed medical care, and provide the correct diagnosis.

Its smaller size offers the opportunity of being taken out to remote areas where people can get tested and get the results in just 12 minutes, which hasn’t been the case with the past COVID-19 test.

For example, The foundation, LumiraDx, and a new group called the African Medical Supplies Platform reserved over 5,000 of these for Africa.

- When COVID-19 arrived in Kenya, we had minimum personal protective equipment and medical supplies. The tests available were too expensive. The turnaround time was too long and notoriously inaccurate. The LumiraDx diagnostic tool has been a game-changer. We can get the patient's sample and we can start running the test, and in 12 minutes, we have the patient's results, says Doctor Kerama from Kenya.

The emphasis is on the accuracy of the tests, which is of utmost importance and which couldn’t be guaranteed with the past covid tests.

Dr. Kerama also notes that if we ever want to come out as winners out of this long battle, we need to have the proper tools and correct data so the best decisions can be made for the protection of communities all over the world.

By: Amber V. - Zexron