Peru's dependence on cheap COVID-19 antibody tests soars its per capita mortality rate

As the pandemic hit Peru, the health officials ordered thousands of COVID-19 antibody test kits to overcome the challenges of limited labs, supplies, and technicians that came with molecular tests. However, the cheap antibody test kits form China have proved to be a costly bet as Peru has soared to highest per capita mortality amid the pandemic.

READ: Peru Extends Coronavirus-linked National State Of Emergency Until Oct 31

Tests could not detect COVID-19 accurately

In March, Peru President Martin Vizcarra had announced the deal for a massive purchase of 1.6 million tests, almost all of them for antibodies. However, as per recent reports, rapid antibody tests poses a danger to Peru's pandemic plane as these tests can't detect early COVID-19 symptoms making it way more difficult to identify and isolate patients. 

As per reports, the Latin American country is heavily dependent on rapid antibody blood tests to diagnose active cases and epidemiologists suggest that the move has resulted in a huge number of false-positive and negative reports, making Peru one of the world's worst-affected countries. 

READ: Peru Could Face Second Wave Of COVID-19, Deputy Minister Of Public Health Warns

Meanwhile, an independent research in the US has found that the antibody tests purchased for use in Peru did not meet standards for accurately detecting COVID-19. According to John Hopkins University, the Latin American nation has the highest per capita COVID-19 mortality rate as compared to any country in the world. 

On September 25, the Peruvian government extended the national state of emergency until October 31 in a bid to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. The South American country has had the worst fatalities rate in the world, figures tallying to 86 per 100,000 population. Vizcarra is reported to have said that the national emergency might extent until the rest of the year.

Peru, with the world’s sixth-largest caseload, imposed the state of emergency on March 16. The presidential orders restricted the people's movement and imposed a partial lockdown from 10 pm to 4 am exempting Sundays, was also imposed across the country to limit the rate of transmission of COVID-19.

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Inputs/Image: AP