Following the Covid-19 pandemic, several nations around the globe have been in a frantic search for solutions. From The search for a cure and vaccine, to easy Test kits; world leaders have been kept on their toes. However, in a groundbreaking development, Ghana has developed a quick Covid-19 test kit that presents results in 20 minutes.
Local media reports that the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) scientists have manufactured a revolutionary Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kit for Covid-19. University built the test kit in partnership with Incas Diagnostic, a medical diagnostic development and manufacturing social enterprise located in Kumasi, Ghana’s second-largest city.
Ghana And The Covid-19 Test Kit
The test kit named ‘COVID-19IgG/IgM Rapid Test’ is said to give results between 15-20 minutes. Moulded in the form of a homemade kit used in a glucose or pregnancy testing; the COVID-19IgG/IgM Rapid Test’ requires only a finger-prick drop of blood. 
It then “detects two different types of antibodies produced by the body to fight off the COVID-19 infection about seven days after infection; and also in those who have been exposed to the virus but not showing any symptoms (asymptomatic) or recovered from the infection,” the University said in a statement released by its spokesperson, Dr. Daniel Norris Bekoe.
So far Ghana has conducted over 110,000 tests, the second-highest on the continent. The Ghana Report states that the country’s tests per one million populations are a little over 3, 200. Ghana has so far recorded some 2,074 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus with 17 deaths and 212 recoveries.
Currently, Ghana uses Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for its COVID-19 test. The PCR detects parts of the viral genome very early in infection and takes at least 48 hours from testing to results; potentially delaying contact tracing and other efforts, scientists said.
But the latest Covid-19 Test kit innovation is said to detect asymptomatic cases; thus enabling decentralized testing to be done anywhere without requiring any equipment.