Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: the Diagnostic Industry Angle

As the healthcare situation caused by COVID-19 starts to evolve, countries are looking for safe exit strategies from confinement measures. Most deconfinement strategies identify a crucial component in testing — a lot of testing, a lot of the time.

Anyone seeking to understand possible paths out of the lockdowns could be asking the following COVID-19 testing-related questions: why are different tests needed for different situations? Why does it matter which test is chosen? What has been achieved so far? What are the learnings from the past weeks for the way forward?

This document aims to provide some answers drawn from the experience of developers and producers of tests and their related components. In this global health emergency, the diagnostics industry plays a crucial role, and is committed to doing its part so that life can move forward to a new kind of normal.

(Updated: December 2020)