Welcome to todays webinar. Please share your questions in the Q&A panel.

Harriet Natabona from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya

Hello everyone. Joel Andwilege Intrahealth international/Tanzania

I suggest that at the end of this meeting we get the presentation of the meeting

Thank you very much Prof.Misinzo for a nice and very knowledgeable presentation...by Magreth Antony

Thanks Prof. Misinzo for a wonderful presentation. Dr. Atunga Nyachieo, from Kenya.

Yegon Kibet from KEMRI

Thank you Prof. Misinzo for the good presentation

Hi, My name is Elifuraha Barnabas from Sokoine University of AgricultureThank you prof Misinzo for knowledgeAs you explained, testing for the COVID virus should be an easy process. However I am not sure how Africa, particularly Tanzania is well prepared to handle infectious material. Given the biosecurity challenges in Africa, we need to invest more on handling biohazard material

Thank you Prof. Misinzo, learned alot from the presentation.

Thank you prof Misinzo for this a simplified and nice presentation

@Barnaba, biosecurity is an issue during sampling and nucleic cid extraction. You have to wear a full PPE. After that, practice BSL-2

Thank you Prof Misinzo for wonderful presentation /Peter-Tanzania

thanks for good presentation Prof Misinzo by Dr Wambura from Tanzania

Hello Elifuraha Barnabas. Tanzania has been trained laboratory Scientists from all over the region on handing the infectious material based on Biosafety and Biosecurity regulations

Regarding preservation of RNa in the absence of liquid nitrogen or cold chain. Please collect using Trizol or lysis buffer to kill the virus and preserve RNA. Primestore or RNA Later are reagents that are also sold commercially. They will preserve the RNa and still enable you test using qRT-PCR. This will not be good for cell culture though

Regarding the target genes in SARS CoV-2: some of the genes are conserved in all betacoronaviruses while some are very specific for SARS CoV2. For SARS CoV-2 there is at least more than one target gene, to take care of possible miss in case a mutation occurs. With the access to instant genome sequencing, these mutations can be easily located to inform change in strategy for testing and interpretation of results

Samples: Blood is good for serology. Oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swabs, are the samples of choice, and whenever possible an expectorated sputum

currently there PRIMESTORE MTM a micro tubes with solution which safely inactivate the organism and preserves the RNA for future , you can travel with samples for as long as 30days at 40C without cold chain system regardless the RNA instability

Prof. Misinzo, given that Tanzania is a large country how many testing labs are designated for c-19 testing?

Also have started mass testing?

Kidenya: Thanks. This rhymes with my answer: Regarding preservation of RNa in the absence of liquid nitrogen or cold chain. Please collect using Trizol or lysis buffer to kill the virus and preserve RNA. Primestore or RNA Later are reagents that are also sold commercially. They will preserve the RNa and still enable you test using qRT-PCR. This will not be good for cell culture though

Laboratory designations: many labs have qRT-PCR machines and ready for commissioning based on need and volume of samples or risk in certain area

Sensitivity: each kit has a limit of detection (LOD) and this varies with the target gene too. Overall, qRT-PCR is highly sensitive with some tests detecting as low as 3 RNA copies per 1000 uL

Prof. Misinzo, there are discussions on use of serology for diagnosis of covid -19, what is your opinion on this?

Is there a plan to follow up patients after been discharged from hospital? Or any possibility of disease recurrence later? on

Thank you all making time to attend. I see tests from all over and from some familiar people. Greetings to people in Ndanda, TAWIRI, NM-AIST

Thank you so much Prof for sharing with us

I am calling upon African scientists to help Africa by first doing epidemiological study to determine the exact prevalence of disease. This is key for managing the crisis

Thanks for presentation

Prof. Mwau, thanks for nice presentation

Thank you Dr. for very nice presentation

Thanks prof Misinzo for showing our diagnostic capacity at molecular level as well as human resorce capacity

Thank you Prof for this presentation

we can, we will and we Must defeat covid 19

Thank you Prof Mwau and Prof Misinzo for the good presentations

In this kind of situation, for the Mass test is it really possible to use serological test? I think when available RDTs test and PCR are more interessting! Your opinion please

I liked the idea of coming up with other options especially when supplies are not available

Prof .Misinzo how are we prepared to meet an increased demand for clinical testing of the disease in Tanzania ,as we are looking forward to have an increase in reported cases for the coming days,as of now we only have two labs capable of testing of the disease,,Victor Simon

are this virus can be transmitted through blood???, e.g in blood transfusion

Thanks the profs and PharmAccess for preparing this learning platform. I hope you are going to do another meeting in coming days-Chilolo-Tanzania.

Thank you Prof. Mwau for painting a clear picture of where as a country we stand, where we need to go and how to work our way there.

For resources helping you prepare for COVID-19 you can visit www.safe-care.org

Thanks Prof Mwau for your presentation and significant control strategies in your country .

For questions not answered today please feel free to email info@safe-care.org

Serology will also be able to inform policy on whether to have lock down or not. If most population is exposed, then there is no need for a lockdown. We could practise and intelligent lock down

You are right Gildas

www.safe-care.org

As for the probes: Most kits are coming with FAM, and one has VIC. The quencher used is black berry quencher and black hole quencher 1

Serology will also be able to inform policy on whether to have lock down or not. If most population is exposed, then there is no need for a lockdown. We could practise and intelligent lock down

Thank you Dr Chilolo

Thank you for the meeting, it was great and mind opening regarding covid-19.

Thank you a wonderful presentation