The Gates Foundation will provide home tests of Corona in Seattle

US websites have reported that testing the new Corona virus in the Seattle area will receive significant support in the coming weeks, as a project funded by American billionaire Bill Gates and his charitable foundation will start providing a set of home tests that allow those suspected of having Corona disease to examine themselves and send samples for analysis. Without the need to socialize with others.

According to the American Seattle Times, the results of the tests will appear in a day or two, and will be shared with local health officials who will report those who have been infected with the virus online.

People can answer questions about their movements and contacts by filling out forms, making it easier for health officials to locate those who may need testing or quarantine, as well as to track the spread of the virus and identify potential hotspots.

Initially, the lab will be able to do about 400 tests a day, and it will eventually be expanded to do thousands of tests per day, said Scott Doyle, leader of the Corona Virus Response Unit at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

He added that the project is accelerating, but it is not clear exactly when it will be launched, because the program must be upgraded to deal with the expected increase in requests, and complete a detailed questionnaire for those requesting tests, as well as other things.

"Although much needs to be done, this augurs well for the potential to divert the course of the epidemic," Doyle said.

While the Seattle-based Public Health Department in King County has confirmed 71 cases and 15 deaths as of Saturday in the two cities, Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, says the actual number of cases in the Seattle area has reached 600.

Doyle said that this number could theoretically increase to thirty thousand at the end of March, but steps to slow the transmission of infection can greatly reduce the number of new infections, which underlines the importance of acting quickly to protect people from the virus.

This new effort aims to harness the vast resources and expertise of the Gates Foundation, known for fighting disease and epidemics worldwide, to help local health agencies struggle to cope with the rapidly spreading disease.

The Seattle area has emerged as the epicenter of the new disease, with far more deaths than any other American city.

Doyle added that "one of the most important things from our point of view - after we saw this work and worked on it in other parts of the world - is to identify those infected with the virus, so that they can be safely removed, cared for and identified."

But the tests have been limited so far, causing many people to feel frustrated and fearful.

Last week, the UW Medicine Laboratory obtained approval to start processing samples collected by doctors and other health care providers.

The Gates-funded project will reduce the need for patients to visit a doctor’s office or clinic, thereby reducing the chance for others to become ill.

The initiative arose out of the Seattle Influenza Study, a two-year-old research project based at Washington University to track the spread of infectious diseases such as influenza, with funding from the Bill Gates office for $ 20 million.

The project has recruited thousands of volunteers and sent them self-test kits, and the focus has now shifted entirely to the new Corona virus, using similar methods to help the rapid response of public health centers.

And when the extended testing system is on, people in the Seattle area who think they have HIV can fill out an online questionnaire, and if their symptoms are persistent, they can request the test, they will be delivered to their home within two hours, then collect the swabs and deliver them to the UW lab.

The Gates Foundation announced recently that it will allocate five million dollars to support efforts to combat the Corona Virus in the Seattle area, a large part of which will be allocated for extensive testing and analysis. Although the initial focus will be on the Seattle area, Doyle stressed that it may eventually expand at the state level.

The Gates Foundation has also allocated $ 100 million to the global response to the Coronavirus, focusing on developing vaccines and drugs, and improving tests, treatment and control in high-risk areas in Africa and South Asia.