A shortage of Covid-19 sampling kits in several counties has affected testing of suspected cases, the Nation has learnt.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe admitted that many counties are currently recording a shortage of sampling kits.
The counties are thus not able to give the true picture of virus transmission in their communities. The health system is also struggling to deal with a surge in new patients as referral hospitals increasingly get overwhelmed.
“There is a shortage of sampling kits affecting testing of suspected cases, contacts, and limiting overall access to testing,” said the ministry in a statement.
The shortage comes at a time the country is grappling with a surge in the number of infections.
On Saturday, 1,225 people tested positive for the disease, from a sample size of 8,877 and on Friday, 1,437 people tested positive for the disease. This has been the trend from last month. The country has been recording about 1,500 cases a day after tests of those who want to travel.
The government stopped mass testing, noting that since the virus is widely spread in the community, it beats the logic of conducting mass testing.
Private laboratories
Most of the tests that are being conducted or the results being announced are from private laboratories, including Lancet Kenya. Dr Francis Kuria, Director of Public Health at the Health ministry, admitted that the country shifted from mass to targeted testing because of lack of enough testing kits. Only those with symptoms of Covid-19 and those that present themselves to hospitals are thus being tested.
“I know there has been an issue but we are now trying to distribute more testing kits to the counties, particularly the rapid antigen test kits. In that regard, we are probably going to see higher numbers coming next week,” Dr Kuria said.
The decline in the testing capacity is happening at a time when the country is struggling with the Delta variant that has led to a surge in the number of infections.
If the government is testing less samples in a day, is it possible to know how the virus has spread in the community or how possible is it to detect the variants from the samples?
An official in one of the counties in Nyanza said that he can’t remember the last time they conducted testing.
“We are not supposed to procure the testing kits as a county; we rely on Ministry of Health to supply us with the kits. We now collect samples for walk-ins and send them to Nairobi,” he said
He added that it takes time before the results are returned to the counties.
No follow-up on contacts
“When a person turns positive, then it means that they have to be alerted on time, isolated, then their people are traced and quarantined, but this is not happening. We are not following up on contacts of people who have tested positive,” he said.
The ministry has conducted about 54,806 tests in the past seven days, translating to over 7,800 a day, the highest number being 10,764 tests while the lowest 6,209 samples a day.
However, with the reduction in the number of tests, it is evident that the positivity rate is still high, meaning more people are infected with the virus and the number could be high if the counties were vigorously testing. Dr Ahmed Kalebi, a consultant pathologist, said the government could be underreporting the numbers.
“The issue is mainly under-reporting of tests done and inadequate testing from a public health perspective. Incomplete collection and collation of Covid-19 test results by the Ministry of Health (MOH) from across the country as done by public and private medical facilities, whereby the results of the tests done in the medical facilities are not submitted to MOH,” Dr Kalebi said. BY DAILY NATION