WHO policy brief: COVID-19 testing

Overview

• WHO recommends that its Member States continue to offer testing for COVID-19 in line with three main objectives as part of COVID-19 management and control: reduce morbidity and mortality through linkage to prompt care and treatment, track the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and reduce the risk of emergence and spread of new SARS-CoV-2 variants that could cause upsurges of cases threatening health system capacities. 
• The WHO Director-General’s standing recommendations for COVID-19 encourage countries to support and enhance equitable access to safe, effective and quality-assured COVID-19 diagnostics for all communities, including through mechanisms such as resource mobilization and technology transfer, as appropriate. 
• Testing of suspected cases early in the disease course–especially among people at increased risk for hospitalization or severe COVID-19–facilitates access to supportive care and COVID-19 therapeutics.  
• Testing is a critical tool for tracking the evolution of the epidemic and the SARS-CoV-2 by submitting data on sentinel, wastewater and animal surveillance to SARS-CoV-2 surveillance systems. 
•  COVID-19 testing and reporting strategies should be linked to genomic surveillance and phenotypic assessment. 
• As countries shift to comprehensive, long-term management of COVID-19 within broader disease prevention and control programmes, they should remain prepared to rapidly expand testing in the event of surges caused by new SARS-CoV-2 variants that may strain health system capacities.