E.A.COMMUNITY TO DEPLOY COVID–19 MOBILE TESTING EQUIPMENT

By Our Correspondent, ARUSHA Tanzania

The East African Community (EAC) Secretariat is in the process of deploying mobile laboratories and coronavirus test kits to all partner states in response to the global pandemic.

According to a communique from the EAC Secretariat, each partner state will receive a four wheel drive vehicle fitted with laboratory and ICT equipment.

The deployment will also include all the necessary consumables for a fully functional laboratory with the capacity to conduct tests for Ebola and the coronavirus in addition to other pathogens.

The secretariat will also put in place a Regional Coordination Committee (RCC) with risk communication and community engagement, policy and guidelines, finance and logistics, and data and statistics sub-committees to oversee the regional COVID–19 response.

According to the communique the committee has already set in motion a number of activities to secure the EAC organs and institutions, and support partner states in battling the virus.

Regional health ministers are set to on Tuesday March 24, to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and its containment strategies.

Most EAC partner states have implemented strategies to contain the outbreak such as the suspension of all face to face meetings, closure of all schools and tertiary training institutions, closure of their respective air space and borders as well as implementation of quarantine (mandatory or otherwise) on arrival for travellers from high risk countries due to the outbreak.

In EAC Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have reported cases of coronavirus.

The Burundi and South Sudan are yet to report any cases.

Two countries neighbouring the EAC; Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia have also confirmed cases.

This has forced EAC to suspend all meetings. - Africa