It is reported that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a charitable funding organization founded by Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates and wife Merlinda Gates, will provide a novel coronavirus diagnostic kit in Seattle, USA in the coming weeks.
Reportedly, the Foundation’s new Corona 19 test kit takes a sample by sticking a name stick in the nose of a suspected person and submits it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation laboratory in Seattle, where the test results can be found within 1 to 2 days after shipment. There will be. Test results are automatically shared with Singaporean health authorities.
If you have Corona 19, you will be provided with information to prevent the spread of Corona 19 at home by answering questions such as your behavior history and contact information through an online form.
The foundation said that it only supports 400 tests a day at this stage, but it will increase the number of tests to 1,000 in the future. In addition, regarding the timing and region of the test kit delivery, the project is progressing as quickly as possible, but it is unclear when it will begin. At the start, he added that although the service area is limited to Seattle, it will expand nationwide in the future.
In King County, Washington, including Seattle, 71 infected and 15 dead were confirmed as of March 7. King County is estimated to have a large number of potential infected people, and one expert estimated that the actual number of infected people as of March 5 was 600. There is also an opinion that the number of potential infected people is likely to increase to 30,000 by the end of March, and as a countermeasure, it is said that it is important to identify people infected with the virus and safely isolate treatment. It emphasized the need for testing equipment to identify the infected person.
The test kit is based on the Seattle Flu Study, a research project at the University of Washington investigating how infections such as influenza, which the Foundation provided $20 million to, could spread. The method of testing for infection developed in this study was helpful for the Corona 19 test kit as it is.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s new COVID-19 test kit is not available to all Seattle citizens, but must first answer questions about their health status online. If it is determined that there is a possibility of being infected with Corona 19 through this answer, it is possible to request a test kit. Upon request, the test kit will arrive home within 2 hours.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced on February 5 that it would donate $100 million for the detection, quarantine, and treatment of Corona 19, but on March 4 it announced that it would contribute an additional $5 million. Reportedly, most of the additional donations were devoted to the development of this test kit. One expert said there is still work to be done, but the test kit has the potential to change the spread of Corona 19. Related information can be found here .