Vela Diagnostics has announced its appointment by the National Public Health Laboratory of Kenya (NPHL) as their supplier for SARS-CoV-2 genotyping tests, with funding from The Global Fund.

The NPHL operates under Kenya's Ministry of Health and plays an important role in the nation's healthcare by providing reference testing for key diseases and in response to disease outbreaks. It is currently embarking on a program to trace, and curb spread of COVID-19 in Kenya, an effort funded by The Global Fund.

The Global Fund is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to attract, leverage, and invest additional resources for prevention, treatment and care programs of diseases such as AIDS, TB and malaria.

Vela Diagnostics has an extensive infectious diseases portfolio, with solutions to support COVID-19 testing. These include the ViroKey SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Test v2.0, a test for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infections, and the ViroKey SARS-CoV-2 ID RT-PCR Test, which quickly identifies specific strains and potential variants of concern.

Especially relevant to the Kenyan NPHL's surveillance efforts is the ViroKey SQ FLEX SARS-CoV-2 Genotyping Assay, a next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based test for detecting genomic mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome from nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swabs. The accompanying reporter software automatically calls out mutations and classifies them by lineage, providing critical insights to the molecular epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infections.