Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.
East African Community Secretariat, Health Department, Arusha, Tanzania.
Global Health. 2021 Apr 23;17(1):49. doi: 10.1186/s12992-021-00700-9.
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 mutants might lead to European border closures, which impact on trade and result in serious economic losses. In April 2020, similar border closures were observed during the first SARS-CoV-2 wave in East Africa.
Since 2017 the East African Community EAC together with the Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine BNITM established a mobile laboratory network integrated into the National Public Health Laboratories of the six Partner States for molecular diagnosis of viral haemorrhagic fevers and SARS-CoV-2. Since May 2020, the National Public Health Laboratories of Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan deployed these mobile laboratories to their respective borders, issuing a newly developed "Electronic EAC COVID-19 Digital Certificate" to SARS-CoV-2 PCR-negative truck drivers, thus assuring regional trade.
Considering the large financial damages of border closures, such a mobile laboratory network as demonstrated in East Africa is cost-effective, easy to implement and feasible. The East African Community mobile laboratory network could serve as a blueprint for Europe and other countries around the globe.
SARS-CoV-2 变异株的出现可能导致欧洲边境关闭，从而影响贸易并造成严重的经济损失。2020 年 4 月，在东非首次 SARS-CoV-2 浪潮期间，也出现了类似的边境关闭情况。
自 2017 年以来，东非共同体（EAC）与伯纳德-诺希特热带医学研究所（BNITM）一起建立了一个移动实验室网络，该网络整合到六个伙伴国家的国家公共卫生实验室中，用于病毒性出血热和 SARS-CoV-2 的分子诊断。自 2020 年 5 月以来，肯尼亚、卢旺达、布隆迪、乌干达和南苏丹的国家公共卫生实验室将这些移动实验室部署到各自的边境，向 SARS-CoV-2 PCR 阴性的卡车司机发放新开发的“东非共同体 COVID-19 数字电子证书”，从而确保了区域贸易。
考虑到边境关闭造成的巨大经济损失，像东非所展示的这种移动实验室网络具有成本效益，易于实施且可行。东非共同体移动实验室网络可以作为欧洲和全球其他国家的蓝图。
