What is it about?
Molecular (RT-PCR) tests are essential for health surveillance and guiding government actions. This study maps why the distribution of molecular (RT-PCR) tests in the public health system affected Brazil's response to the COVID-19 pandemic during the first three waves.
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Why is it important?
RT-PCR tests remain critical to diagnosing SARS-CoV-2 infection and are critical to pandemic control. This is the first study to map how the Brazilian health ministry scaled-up testing using public health labs belonging to the pre-existing national network, existing public labs licensed to increase testing and High-Capacity Testing Centers. It shows that there was considerable progress in distributing tests during the second wave, but that these efforts were reversed during the third wave. It also shows that allocation decisions resulted in unequal and uneven allocations across the states of the Brazilian federation which contributed to increasing inequalities.
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This page is a summary of: An assessment of the public health surveillance strategy based on molecular testing during three major pandemic waves of COVID-19 in Brazil, PLOS Global Public Health, August 2023, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002164.
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