Test every case the World Health Organization says its crucial in the fight against the corona virus pandemic but only a few countries are conducting the widespread testing so what are the challenges and how can they be overcome this is inside story. Hello welcome to the program im Bernard Smith isolate test and trace thats the urgent message from the World Health Organization to combat the coronavirus pandemic many countries have imposed mass lockdowns and ordered people to stay home but few have implemented widespread testing many European Countries and states in the u. S. For example a limiting test for only the most critical of cases will bring in our guests in a moment 1st priyanka got to explain why this could spell disaster. After covert 901st emerged in china governments around the world faced 2 staggering challenges 1st to contain its spread and 2nd detecting people who have it eyes only test treat and trace the World Health Organization says the most effective way to fight the pandemic is to test every suspected case the world is not manufacturing testing kits and lab supplies fast enough to keep up with the rising demand about 20 percent of people that have the fires sure and. People are responsible. Out there so its very important that we ramp up the difficulty right now agents. Are running short all around the world so there are shortages. In many countries Health Workers are depending on whats called true questions to prioritize those who should be tested that includes travel history contact with an infected person preexisting conditions like diabetes Heart Disease among others and symptoms if you dont aggressively taste and i saw a light people as has singapore and taiwan and other raised i think countries you build up as a significant legal pole of people who are carrying the virus and then its no longer possible to contain it you can only rely infection you must stop it and unfortunately italy has got to that critical point countries such as china and south korea raced to deadlock a Rapid Testing kits early on. South korea was one of the 1st to set up makeshift drive to centers in and around the country. It was the houses of people are being tested every day by many countries like the u. K. Are having to ration the testing supplies added time when tens of millions of people are in the lockdown the push to test as many people as possible has never been more agend Priyanka Gupta al jazeera. We spoke to a sports journalist who developed flu like symptoms after contact with someone and amsterdam related tested positive for corona virus a take a listen to what his experience has been like since returning home to belgium at the start of the month i went to the u. A. E. For congress in amsterdam a meeting of european football officials then i met cult so touchy an official for the Olympic Games in tokyo last tuesday he tested positive for the cone of virus so the next day i went into self isolation the same day the d. Belgium government imposed a Strict Lockdown i had been feeling sick for long days i called my doctor and i demanded to be tested unfortunately the test was so if you wish to in belgium only medical personnel and those persons with very severe symptoms of the violence get tested which means that you know you ality very few people get tested i was told to stay at home and self isolate which i did i live at home with my moms she is 60 so that boeings and anxiety and practical problems and so every time you cough you wonder have i contacted the violas luckily i am feeling better now after 6 days of self isolation but in reality even though the government last week only poured leo quiet another 100000 kids in a reality we will never really know if i had to do violence or not. Lets bring in our panel in hong kong dr r. Is seen as the president of the Hong Kong Public Doctors Association in singapore. Hes the dean of the source we hawk school of Public Health. Off of the National University of singapore and in cambridge massachusetts in the u. S. Talk to in great cats shes the assistant faculty director of the Harvard GlobalHealth Institute welcome to you all and funks for joining us are seeing im off 1st of all i know we have to ask you this you have at the moment treating people with a corona virus how is that how challenging is that for you. Actually in hong kong we have repartee increasing number of the cases we have 1st get out there as you compliment cases in early february eliot and the rest of the world because thats the case importer for main there however we can keep the number going very very still leave for a long while till recently all of those arrests in country. And. Hong kong people who say in it was Foreign Countries they turned back to hong kong and we have a rapid rise of them to cases we have much more number of equal to cases and also staff who have some noble in fact that cases but at the hospital the isolation facilities are almost nil but most of the cases out quite well because the i have good cost how but we learn that these start to spread through the local setting and get out believe and patients with chronic illness get in fact that they are all they really know that much situation we have full cases that i call is 2 months old now off. And also with chronic illness ok youre going to go in singapore what how singapore done that has been able to keep a lid on this outbreak what is it doing correctly with testing where are think what weve been doing is really to try and find a service where they are and very quickly context raise a lot of people to have it in contact with this group of people. That vehicle both cases once we find a contact we actually isolate them or seen them very quickly and this removes the congress will the community reduce any awkward position and equally we are identifying what other makes it but theres a risk we very quickly identify and split plates necessary but they should be prevalent if i do read messages and travel bans to limit the importation of risk so i believe based on the 2 measures that help to keep the Community Transmission this thing of all to a manageable number of injured cats is it frustrating to listen how that doing it in singapore and hong kong knowing that in the us this is not whats happening both hong kong and singapore have done exceptional jobs Contact Tracing is absolutely critical at this time and i think unfortunately the United States just fell so far behind with the lack of testing that even successful Contact Tracing measures are not effective and we dont know who is indeed infected so angered is it too late to Start Testing in the us has the opportunity gone no i grab salut least not too late yeah i mean i think its absolutely clear that we need to ramp up testing credibly quickly and certainly people are focusing on that right now but its not too late we need to get a better handle on the numbers that were talking about right now in the United States weve run about i think around a 100 in 3000 tests. And again because those are high risk people that have been tested those numbers that the actual Positivity Rate has been high about a 3rd has been high sorry about a 3rd has been positive however were not testing we have not been able to test people who were either low symptomatic or possible contacts of people at high risk so we are woefully behind but its not too late to catch up. You know again do you think for countries like the United Kingdom for france for italy for spain its too late for them to copy the singapore model i think its important to bet in their perspective that youve been in a country like the United Kingdom there are regions where there is no Widespread Community in france britain at the moment there are 4 educators there are some plasters and dogs are the book backs its always a where and conquer say active isolation help to keep the numbers up so we have to do look at a country and really take distracted by approach see which are the measures that can be put in place in regions where you cant manage the context basing dollar versus those regions where it seems to be unmanageable and by all to let it wait perhaps knock down banter back and isnt maybe put in place where there is it Widespread Community especially where on that they say were not logging many people but i have to emphasize that testing is imperative the mosque continue testing to know what would have been factored and to take the right measures to isolate those that didnt factor that away from the community. Scene or in in hong kong how important was testing and has testing been to to keep control of the spread of the virus. Actually at the beginning we since our test to almost every person who has trouble history and also certain triangle symptoms so actually we can identify some very mild cases and also opportunity identify some mild cases or some hope and it is as we give the families men though in some foreign time area those members who have close contact with them as if someone quarantined areas and then by having them test once they got even mild symptoms so we have we have quite a number of cases in a very early stage of the season and the gusts that treatment believe are the change that early so it is you have a right from the it has spread from the latest state we actually expand our testing system actually our whole reason ses the almost has all the people who return from resting country will present even some mild cough and actually our government Just Announced that they are actually going to test all people who are returning from european country oh im not america even you have some temple north i have talked with the governor of t. V. One of the local authorities were responsible what attesting it seems that we still have in now a kid an equipment to do the testing so they plan to do as much as possible try to hunt at the chain or those infected cases is certain area because a homegrown like some of the asian country we are highly advanced populated so all we can just let those come from that is walk around in this society because it is a highly contagious the scenes. Singapore is a society well used to government regulation how important is it is it to have public buy in to the to what the government wants to do to try and control the spread of this virus. I think it is absolutely the oldest of expired because at the hospital that 19 is about people response to government measures to try and protect themselves for example in senegal we have a hybrid approach between active testing and actually isolation of individuals at a high risk so i hear that the hogan response is to test everyone that is coming back from your room and from america those are the new not the centers of the defeat but in thinking what we do is that we dont start off testing everyone elses state we put all returning travelers interesting the ball on or didnt they stay at 0 notice it is meant data rate is legislate does if you blow the laws you could be prosecuted but along those lines there is actually the personal responsibility that individuals would take to stay away from not fronts on tuesday themselves are very clear that they are free from the disease and that takes 40 days of isolation and focus on also if you are one of the migrant folks ingrid the u. S. Western European Countries are culturally different in that relationship between the government and the people and its going to be difficult to get the citizens of the u. S. To buy in like that like they have done in singapore and other asian societies. Yes im listening to your other speakers here and i am i have to say that this is going to be a challenge in the United States its certainly a very grave situation and because its really being run at a state level right now i do think that different states are responding differently here in massachusetts while there has not been a full lockdown yet people are absolutely requested and really require to go into self isolation if they have any symptoms or been in high risk contacts that said as many people have seen in video circulating there are still people who are not taking this seriously are going off to you know very spring break destinations in large groups and i dont think that the message has been consistently conveyed across the country and there is a lot of misinformation unfortunately that people seem to be holding on to that this is not a grave situation and thats absolutely incorrect and i do think that people who are really struggling with physical isolation right now need to really be listening to these messages we can absolutely see the data from singapore and hong kong and other countries that have been able to get this under control we need to be following that absolutely strict policy even though this is going to be hard for a lot of americans angry though do you do you see this snowballing towards the United States when you look at the u. S. From outside it looks like looks like somethings coming in the not ready. Yeah absolutely i think i think that is certainly the fear im also a physician and i think in speaking with a lot of my colleagues i do think that people are very fearful right now that people are not taking this seriously and as has been widely reported there is a large scale shortage of personal protective equipment which means that Health Care Workers are putting their lives on the line if theyre not adequately protected and weve already seen cases certainly in Health Care Providers and deaths globally and so we have to be vigilant i think people are really feeling like theyre seeing the tip of the iceberg and theyre steering the ship tour is that and its not clear whats lying underneath the water and thats a deeply concerning feeling. There are parts of the world where there are not major outbreaks yet there are parts of latin and south america in parts of africa where the corona virus is the but not spreading widely is the chance for those countries to sort of implement the testing you are suggesting just to halt the spread of the virus in those places is it too late for them or is the time there is definitely time because for many of the country yes flocking to see sporadic cases or perhaps clusters there are emerging and those are the situations where if you have to capacity. And dont come to the capacity in a moment if you have to go back to the past you should actively test and put in place a rigorous approach to contact rates this will take on pieces that all the major within the country many of this country will require assistance global esus those that do help them with testing and also the scale of Health Care Workers capability knowledge on the use of e. B. And even the knowledge on. And minister in the intensive Care Management that is necessary for treatment but if we are able to capture. The spread much earlier on actually that will help a lot of this country manage your situation in a calm and the longest setting. A long way to continue to read spread beyond the situation all spread across those white spread Community Vision that its all be there at the well look up and they will have to contribute but be your help this country gave them and they can ask what happens when you pass the point of it making no sense to lock down specific areas when the virus is so widespread what what do you do then. Well i think 1st of all you have to have a good sense of how widespread it is so testing is still absolutely critical and also getting a bench really having us around based tests so we can really understand who has been exposed to the virus and has antibodies i think were not at a point where south isolation is not necessary i think that even in communities that are very heavily had right now new york city is absolutely getting decimated by this because people live in very close proximity to each other. People still need to self isolate to physically distance themselves from people and i think this is very hard for people particularly in densely populated urban areas and we need to be looking to our fellow said global citizens in asia who have managed to do this even in densely populated cities so at this point i dont see a there it really should not be a loosening of anything there needs to be a tightening. Of isolation between people at this point. In hong kong how are you testing people for antibodies to show that theyve recovered from the bara so if possible how useful would that be for an organization like yours. Actually we do have around 100 patients. A recovered and distrust from the hospital i know that their university has has anybody level well 6 we have no a like me and we have not tried to expect anybody and getting used in the clinical setting hows this to recover from the we do under the dudley i think theres a bit of what we need to know that how long will those because those patients who have disease and people in the law school for the sox nation the last will 2 years or so was alert patient may only last for like 10 months but have all of these new ankle evolve it believes even short of when to get the anybody from the recovered patient and inject it to the 6 patients that it going to have around you to do do do do it as he sees is still a no bill maintenance that that it is useful i just want to supplement about the quarantined with the genesee and how long in the single poll we do have you ask all those problems high risk areas you have quarantined all medical surveillance for 14 days but we do see that sometimes people do not follow the current time of the so rayman well we got we see some cases basically go and so on thats why 8 one of the reason why the government implements to test all those returning from the wrestling countries to make sure that even they break the all of that with you know that whether in fact has already tried to get back to someone else will not. What are the risks of the coronavirus appearing again in countries that think theyve got a lead on it i think the reality which the world raising right now its very clear that we have to help every country manage their problems before they will look at the class of 3. To be completely free from that would be if we just look at the situation in china and i want to highlight what china has done as successfully remove all the pace of local widespread transmission of dol 20 cases 0 domestic transmission in china and debt as surely the world that this is it these days that can be contained with the right measures but equally as china relaxes its control we are starting to see a 2nd wave coming in from importations so talking about country individual countries keeping a lid on this i dont think that is that realistic scenario as long as there arent every set those happening in other parts of the world be it in europe be it in america so we really have to look at helping all country and not well managed this problem probably although why we will see a problem all direct all this is the across the world in great what are you the sort of sentiments very quickly were running out of time but those sort of sentiments you would echo i guess i think we they the more that we stay in front of us particularly in low resource settings where Health Care Infrastructure and systems may not be as strong and certainly not be able to absorb the impact of the large scale pandemic we have to stay in front of us we have to get serious about these measures globally and set a sense you havent been taking us seriously we need to have an about face at this point there really is no other way there are measures there are classic Public Health measures that we can use to contain the spread of this virus but people have to be exercising them otherwise this will not be effective all right thank you very much we have unfortunately run out of time for your insights of been very very important so funks to all our guests talk to arsene a ma ying tio and dr ingrid katz and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website aljazeera dog. Com for further discussion go to off Facebook Page facebook dot com forward slash a. J. Inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter on handle is a. J. Inside story for me going to smith and the entire team here in doha by phone. One of the really special things about working for our desire is that even as a camera woman i get to have so much and put in contribution to a story i feel we cover this region better than anyone else would be for it is you know its very challenging the body but the good because you have a lot of people that are divided on political issues. With the people we live to tell the real stories are just mended is to deliver indepth journalism we dont feel inferior to the audience across the globe. Singapore is being accused of expanding its coastline with illegally dredged satins some of the islands off the coast of indonesia literally vanish its a big business smuggling sample and they will take the stand there in the sand is where you see this beautiful beach but behind it is something thats not so pleasant tragedy is that people are just not aware and ecological investigation into a global emergency sound walls at this time on aljazeera. In the midst of a coronavirus pandemic china is in lockdown. One on one a strong want from inside the quarantine company. On out of the. Explaining terms policy towards africa its the Challenging Mission set his secretary of state mike pompei on a 5 day visit to the continent the visit comes after the white house an ounce to a travel ban on 4 african nations and a withdrawal of troops from west africa. They think it just demonstrates the for the by the fall of the u. S. Administration. Despite trumps travel ban being extended at the end of february to take in the 4 african countries including the continents biggest economy compare were insisted that the u. S. Is open for business. This is aljazeera. This is the news our live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes 602 people have died in italy from the coronavirus were told is nearly double that of china. Wall street tumbled again on opening as the u. S. Senate struggled to agree on a one trillion dollars economic lifeline. The fund them accuse