As part of its commitment to help combat COVID-19 in the world, Ospba Novat Company Limited, a Ghanaian firm, has developed a complete digital innovative solution as a voluntary contribution to help individuals self-test and report to their healthcare agencies to rapidly trace, test and treat persons exposed to the virus to control and effectively manage it.

A statement by a Director of the company, Mr Bismark Owusu-Prempeh said the experience of the advanced economies is enough evidence that proves that prompt tracking and tracing of every contact possibly linked to infected patients, is the first step in controlling the spread of the virus.

LINK TO SELF TESTING TOOL https://ospba.com/covid-19/

“Hence, we are all at risk if we don’t find innovative ways to address the challenges associated with contact-tracing of all infected persons. People who have had close contact with others who are infected with the virus are at higher risk of becoming infected and potentially infecting those they have had close contact with.

“The faster such people are traced, the better it will help to provide adequate actionable information for the delivery of appropriate care, testing and treatment and to prevent further transmission of the virus”, the company said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this monitoring process can be broken down into 3 basic steps.

Once someone is confirmed as infected with a virus, contacts are identified by asking about the person’s activities and roles of the people around them since the outset of illness.

Contacts can be anyone who has been in contact with an infected person: family members, work colleagues, friends, or healthcare providers.

All persons considered to have contact with the infected person should be listed as contacts.

To that end, the company said efforts should be made to identify every listed contact and to inform them of their contact status and these contacts should also be provided with information about prevention of the disease.

In some cases, quarantine or isolation is required for high-risk contacts, either at home or in hospital.

Regular follow-up should be conducted with all contacts to monitor for symptoms and test for signs of infection.

“The following inherent challenges of contact-tracing need an innovative approach to effectively control the spread of the virus: adopting the fastest means possible to identify all those who have returned home from any of the affected countries; ensuring that all such ones observe self-quarantine for at least 14 days to confirm their status; identifying and monitoring people who have started developing symptoms of COVID-19 for prompt treatment and prevention of further spread; identifying people who have been in close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case for close monitoring to prevent further spread; integrating data from the various state agencies such as immigration, customs, hospitals would be the first option and then trace people’s travel history and clinical symptoms, using digital capabilities like the one already developed by Ospba Novat Ltd”.

“The insight in the integrated data can be analysed in real-time to track possible infected people with their close contacts and provide the needed update to health authorities and officials to quickly control the outbreak in these critical times. This requires transparent, timely public information to help allay people’s fears and anxiety.

“The company combines the use of digital tools like online data collection links, mobile apps and the use of analytics processes and capabilities to generate data to trace and monitor people’s travel history, clinical symptoms, as well as people or places they have possibly spread the virus to”.