Testing techniques approved by WHO

THE Papua New Guinea Medical Research Institute (PNGIMR) is a World Health Organisation (WHO) accredited institution and testing techniques used by its laboratories are WHO certified, its director says.
To clear the circulation of misinformation regarding Covid-19 tests, PNGIMR director Prof William Pomat told The National that the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) laboratory technique used by IMR was recommended by WHO for the coronavirus disease testing. Pomat said PNGIMR was not doing any antibody testing for Covid-19.
“The Q-PCR, RT-PCR or gene-expert are the diagnostic tests but antibody tests are not diagnostic and we must not use it at this stage,” he said.
Pomat said antibody testing could be used for syrup problem survey to track and see whether the virus had gone through a population.
He said there were many antibody tests around the world but first a copy of some would be acquired and operational research made to see which one was the best.
“We can then recommend to the government that this is the one that we want which will be used for syrup problem survey to see how much exposure is out there in the community,” Pomat said.
“But for diagnostic testing, antibody tests won’t be good enough.
“Any tests done in the country should be WHO qualified.
“When we bring things that are not working well, we will make judgments that are not true and might be harmful.”