Thursday, 28 March, 2024
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African Centres for Disease Control back test-and-travel app

Two major African organisations are promoting a new technology that could connect the continent’s COVID-19 testing centres and ease a reopening of travel across the region. The AU and the Africa Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention are encouraging member states to integrate the mobile-based PanaBIOS platform that would allow results from facilities across the continent to be centralised. So far, only Ghana is using the service.

“Ghana is being used as the pioneer. The (findings) from the uptake of the app and the usage of the app will be shared with the Africa CDC and be applied by other African countries,” said Ghana’s Communication Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.

A report on the News24 site notes that the platform may eliminate the need for travellers to take repeated tests so long as they are coming from a country that’s also signed up for the initiative.

The implementation of the technology, developed by Koldchain, a Kenyan start-up, is being funded by AfroChampions, an organisation that brings together some of the biggest companies on the continent.

 

[link url="https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/african-union-backed-app-seeks-to-speed-up-border-reopenings-20200905"]Full report on the News24 site[/link]

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