MedTech Maldives introducing Covid-19 test card

MedTech Maldives introducing a new way of testing Covid-19 from Abbott pharmaceuticals

MedTech Maldives just introduced COVID-19 antigen test cards, a form of technology that delivers COVID test results in 15 minutes without any other form of equipment. Produced by Abbott pharmaceuticals in the U.S, this BinaxNow COVID-19 Ag Card will assist the government in controlling the situation and ensure the protection of public health.  

A few weeks ago the Maldivian government tightened entry requirements after there were several COVID-19 outbreaks reported at more than a dozen resorts. The situation then escalated greatly, but then, after some time, things were brought back under control.  

This form of technology will naturally help as it will allow medical-people to test suspected cases immediately and very efficiently, whilst always conducting the methods of contact tracing and continuing the traditional way of testing in the meantime. One utilizes it by  

• Having the user give their card to a technician.  
• Extraction reagent is then added to the card.  
• A nasal swab is taken from the patient. 
• The swab is inserted by the technician into the test card, folds it over, and in 15 minutes you know the result.  

These cards are the same that are currently being used in America and in Europe and since the pandemic is clearly not over, they have preparations underway to ship millions and millions of these kits to many different countries.  

The manufacturing company Abbott stated that their aim is to conduct around 50 million COVID-19 tests per month through these test kits. They’ve also added an app which stores the card’s test result on your phone to help “facilitate safer access to organizations where people gather, such as workplaces and schools.”  

The current situation in the Maldives has around 10,000 confirmed cases, almost 9000 recoveries and 34 deaths.