Musa: We are considering introducing rapid tests

(Patria) - Sanjin Musa, a member of the Crisis Staff of the Federal Ministry of Health and head of the Epidemiology Service of the Institute of Public Health of the FBiH, stated that we are in the sixth week since the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 appeared.

"We are monitoring the situation day by day, analyzing," Musa said.

He spoke about different types of testing.

"Molecular testing, and that is the gold standard when we detect the genetic material of the virus, the importance of serological tests is that we have people who had very mild symptoms, but transmitted the disease to other people, it helps us to determine past illness. It helps us to know how many people have immunity and how to adapt our response in the future. But besides these two tests, we are considering rapid tests, their sensitivity is between 30 and 80 percent, and we will wait for final validation before we start using them, because it is very important for us to provide accurate results," said Musa.

When it comes to serological tests, they are not immediately positive, but rather in the second week from the onset of symptoms, but they indicate how many people actually had the disease and what awaits us after the summer.

Since the virus entered nursing homes in most countries, Musa says that in the FBiH, they recognized the importance of prevention and care control in nursing homes.

"The first orders were to ban visits to these homes. We also issued guidelines for behavior in such institutions. There are several such cases in the region, we had one case. All responsible persons managing such institutions must maintain strict control," said Musa.