Covid-19 testing is now available at southernmost Addu City.

Covid-19 taskforce’s spokesperson, Mohamed Mabrook Aziz, said that a BioFire testing machine has been installed at the Addu Equatorial Hospital, adding that this is “a point of care” machine that conduct 24 tests per day.

He added that there are plans to install PCR testing machines in the city, as well as the Regional Hospital in Kulhudhuffushi City “in about 10 days”. He said that with this, 100 to 150 samples can be processed per day “in each region”.

While laboratory technologists were trained capital, on how to operate the machines, these individuals are currently in transit quarantine prior to being allowed to travel back to the regions. Mabrook said that they “will return to work before machines are installed”.

The BioFire machines was installed in Addu City after a 65-year-old woman who traveled there from the capital tested positive for Covid-19. She was being quarantined at Addu Equatorial Quarantine.

While the country’s testing capacity has been a concern, particularly the fact that it was not available in the outlying atolls, authorities have been working to strengthen this.