Health experts for pooling corona samples in batches for mass testing
ISLAMABAD – Health experts on Saturday suggested pooling the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) samples of the population in batches at grass root level for mass testing.
Dr. Ghulam Abbas and Dr. Muhammad Abdullah in a discussion held on ways for conducting mass testing of population of COVID-19 said that in the current pandemic situation the 200 million population of the country must be screened and positive cases should be isolated.
He said that for the mass testing the samples could be collected and pooled together to make a batch which can be as low as a family or at the level of a Mohalla.
The health experts said that the procedure should be based on one test one capacity basis from the pool.
If the test resulted negative the whole batch can be cleared and on the contrary if the test is positive the batch can further probed making small batches till all the positive cases are isolated from general public and quarantined.
They said that the solution is not only cost effective but also pragmatic and possible for implementation. Through this method all the rural and urban population can be screened with the current limited resources.
Article source: https://nation.com.pk/12-Apr-2020/health-experts-for-pooling-corona-samples-in-batches-for-mass-testing