A Review of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Role of Medical Laboratory Scientists in containment

ABSTRACT

The Coronavirus Disease – 2019 (COVID-19) virus has infected more than one million people, leaving more than 50,000 people dead across the globe. The health system of many countries has been overwhelmed by the pandemic, with many losing a significant number of their health professionals in the fight against the virus. While doctors and nurses are so visible at the front lines and are being applauded for the gallant role they are playing in the recovery of hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 patients, the world knows little about those behind their successes, the Medical Laboratory Scientists (MLS). Medical laboratory science is the bedrock of diagnostic medicine and the role of the MLS in containing any pandemic cannot be overemphasized. An effective and timely diagnostics approach is fundamental and germane for the successful containment of any outbreak and the MLS are at the fore-front. They are the ones testing clinical specimens from infected and clinically recovered patients. As disease detectives, their role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic include, but not limited to: diagnosis, monitoring, confirmation of recovery, safety and efficacy testing of broad-spectrum antiviral agents, discovery and development of vaccines, validation of testing protocols and testing kits, offering of advisories to guide government policy on containment at all levels amongst others. The current pandemic requires a multidisciplinary approach and therefore the MLS should be fully integrated into the multidisciplinary team to effective contain the pandemic. The aim of this review therefore is to provide facts and figures about the COVID-19 pandemic, and to appraise the critical role of the Medical Laboratory Scientists in the fight against the pandemic.