Kigali City (Rwanda): Like many other countries of the world, it is almost impossible for the African country Rwanda to check all the citizens amid the lack of test kits, but the researchers here adopted the method to deal with this problem. It has attracted the attention of not only the continent of Africa but the whole world. Here researchers are using algorithms to select people for pool testing. By this method, people in the group of people are selected who are to be examined and after that batches of selected people are drawn and samples are taken. The samples of all the members of the batch are mixed and tested together, which is called a pooled probe and then each individual is tested if a pool’s Covid-19 test results are positive. Thus it is possible to check more people in fewer kits.
Researchers who conducted mathematics-based investigations in Rwanda said the process was more effective. This is benefiting countries with limited resources because some people have to wait several days for results here and the long wait increases the risk of inadvertent infection spreading. Experts underlined that the algorithm used by Rwanda could be a possible solution to combat this global epidemic.
Seema Schauer, an assistant professor of global health at Harvard University, said that the measure Rwanda has developed is an inadequate measure for resource-less countries. Some experts, and even researchers, underlined its complexity, raising concerns that it could be a hindrance to its widespread use. “If you tell a technician about it, they will say what a problem it is,” said Sigrum Samola, a molecular virologist at Saarland University Medical Center in Germany. I want an easy process. “
Significantly, the method has been developed by Wilfred Niedfon, a mathematic epidemiologist at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Global Network in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, and is now turning it into software to help lab technicians and minimize human error Huh. He said, “Technicians will do this like the work done in a normal laboratory.” It is noteworthy that so far around 2100 patients of Covid-19 have been reported in Rwanda.
