Browsing by Author "Agbavor Bernadette"

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    Using drones to transport suspected COVID-19 samples; experiences from the second largest testing centre in Ghana, West Africa
    (PLOS ONE, 2022) Sylverken Angelina Augustina; Owusu Michael; Agbavor Bernadette; Owusu-Dabo Ellis; El-Duah Philip; Aryeetey Sherihane....et al
    The declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11 2020, by the World Health Organi sation prompted the need for a sustained and a rapid international response. In a swift response, the Government of Ghana, in partnership with Zipline company, launched the use of Unmanned Automated Vehicles (UAV) to transport suspected samples from selected dis tricts to two foremost testing centres in the country. Here, we present the experiences of employing this technology and its impact on the transport time to the second largest testing centre, the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) inKumasi, Ghana. Methods Swab samples collected from suspected COVID-19 patients were transported to the Zipline office by health workers. Information on the samples were sent to laboratory personnel