As the novel coronavirus develops into a pandemic, lack of testing kits in a large number of countries has become a major concern.

While delayed response to deal with the virus led to shortage of these kits in most parts of Europe, Australia and Iran, the U.S. crisis has much to do with funding and politics surrounding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

"Iran and Italy are suffering now but I guarantee you other countries will be in that situation very soon," said Michael Ryan, director of the health emergencies program at the World health Organization (WHO) at a press conference calling the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on Wednesday.

The WHO rushed 40,000 testing kits to Iran to prevent further spread of the virus in the country that has witnessed more than 350 deaths. The situation is equally alarming in Italy with close to 830 deaths.

The lack of testing means the virus may already be present and spreading in communities – making it more difficult to isolate patients and conduct contact tracing.

But a few countries have been able to fast track the availability of testing kits and contain the virus. 

Stripping away the red tape

In South Korea, once the virus emerged, the country embarked on a testing blitz, testing some 15,000 people every day.

The country has tested more than 200,000 people so far; the most by far in any country. It has more than 500 designated testing clinics, including more than 40 drive-through facilities that minimize contact between medical workers and patients, according to AFP.

This is because Seoul has a system that allows quick approval of testing kits for viruses that may lead to a potential epidemic. 

It was put in place after 36 people died in the country during the MERS outbreak in 2015, forcing the country to reassess its protocols in dealing with an epidemic.

Rapid test kits needed

The race to develop a rapid and convenient testing kit started a few weeks after the outbreak started in December in China.

Chinese scientists managed to sequence the genetic makeup of the virus and released it to the public in mid-January, giving researchers a lead time for testing kits to be produced.

Scientists worldwide are working round the clock to develop more efficient test kits and vaccines. This technology transfer will be important as the deadly virus reaches less developed countries. 

Nucleic acid testing, which uses Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), is most accurate in detecting viruses, even in trace amounts. However, these machines, which serve to amplify segments of DNA to detect specific nucleic acids, are notoriously expensive and take a longer time.

The test also requires highly skilled staff to carry out the test to get accurate results.

In place of costly nucleic testings, researchers are working affordable and simple rapid testing kits that can be deployed to less developed countries, or be used as pre-testing for public health systems that are overwhelmed.

China has developed a detection kit that delivers results in 15 minutes using just a single drop of blood. The test is able to detect specific antibodies that the body produces in response to the novel coronavirus. 

A UK biotech firm is also working with an innovation company at Senegal to develop "point-of-care" portable kits that can diagnose COVID-19 in 10 minutes, saving precious time and resources for countries with limited testing abilities.

In late January, the WHO declared the novel coronavirus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, with WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying the concern is that it could spread to countries with weaker health systems.

With the declaration of the virus as a pandemic, the same remains true.

The COVID-19 has now reached all continents except Antarctica. There are now more than 100,000 cases worldwide.

"If countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace, and mobilize their people in the response, those with a handful of cases can prevent those cases becoming clusters, and those clusters becoming community transmission," said Tedros at the WHO briefing on Wednesday.

(Cover image: Microbiologist Xiugen Zhang runs a Polymerase Chain Reaction, or PCR, test at the Connecticut State Public Health Laboratory, in Rocky Hill, U.S. /AP)