NAIROBI, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's health ministry said Monday it will leverage on revamped laboratories, trained manpower and speedy acquisition of reagents to boost COVID-19 testing amid a backlog that has derailed flattening of the curve.
Rashid Aman, chief administrative secretary in the Ministry of Health, said that modernizing 24 laboratories spread across the country and providing them with adequate technicians will ensure that COVID-19 testing is fast, efficient and accurate.
"We are improving testing capacity for COVID-19 in different parts of the country and ensure the results are relayed electronically," Aman said at a daily briefing in Nairobi.
He acknowledged that state-funded testing facilities have in the recent past marred by a backlog occasioned by inadequate supplies like reagents and swabs.
Aman said the ministry of health is coordinating with devolved units to improve their testing capacity for COVID-19 amid intensified efforts to contain the pandemic.
"It is true we have experienced backlogs that have slowed down testing of COVID-19 but the matter is being addressed through joint effort between the ministry of health and county governments," said Aman.
Patrick Amoth, acting director-general in the Ministry of Health, said that Kenya is keen to achieve COVID-19 testing targets recommended by public health experts in order to contain its spread.
Amoth said the ministry was still working with the earlier projections that the pandemic could peak between August and September, stressing that the next three weeks will be critical to determine whether the country has flattened the curve.
"We now have more laboratories testing COVID-19 when compared to the early days of the pandemic in April," he added.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases reached 32,557 on Monday after 193 out of 3,381 samples tested positive for the disease, bringing cumulative tests since the first case was reported in the country in mid-March hit 425,364.
Among the positive cases was a two-month-old infant while the oldest was aged 87 years, as the national fatalities tally reached 554 after six patients succumbed to the disease.
Kenya has lately witnessed a drop in COVID-19 cases as positivity rate hit 5.7 percent on Monday and officials pledged robust interventions to ensure that a positivity rate of 5 percent and lower is achieved to help flatten the curve.
The ministry said 225 patients recovered between Sunday and Monday, out of which 188 are from home-based care program while 37 were discharged from various health facilities, bringing the total number of recoveries to 18,895. Enditem
