TESTING TESTING &TESTING
Pandemic challenge is on and one of the primary method to fight this is to test.Experts agree that mass testing for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, would allow positive cases to be isolated and help identify those who came in contact with them, helping to curb further transmission. But how does testing happen and how does it help? NAAT tests The most commonly used coronavirus tests are the WHO-recommended Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAAT), which detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 disease. The specimen is usually collected from the upper respiratory tract using the nasopharyngeal swab technique - in which a sample is gathered from the throat behind the nose, containing a mixture of mucous and saliva.Samples are brought to a specialised laboratory and tested for SARS-CoV-2 using a real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) assay - a method used to detect the presence of "specific genetic material from ...