120 Million Coronavirus Rapid Tests for Low-and-Middle-Income Countries Funded

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in Geneva on September 28, 2020, a new program to supply low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with 120 million rapid antigen tests to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Ph.D., stated the program is vital to LMIC testing capacity.

"These (Abbott and SD Biosensor) tests provide reliable results in approximately 30 minutes, rather than hours or days, at a lower price with less sophisticated equipment."

WHO guidance published on September 11, 2020, highlights the value of these tests in areas where community transmission is widespread and where nucleic acid amplification-based diagnostic testing is either unavailable or where test results are significantly delayed.