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KT edit: A million reasons why the UAE is getting testing right

Even global players such as the United States have come under scanner for lack of testing

Covid-19 may have reared its ugly head last year, but it wasn't until the early first quarter of 2020 that we truly gauged the havoc it could wreak on us as communities. A lot has changed between then and now. Countries are in lockdown. Price of oil has crashed. Many have had to bid farewell to their loved ones on Zoom. Social distancing has become the new way of modern life. In the midst of these changes taking place around us, it is somewhat heartening to know that the UAE recently completed a million tests, making its way among the top 10 countries who have been at the forefront of aggressive Covid-19 testing. It has surely helped to have private diagnostic centres coming forward to ease the burden and conduct Covid tests - now irrespective of whether symptoms are visible or not (it has to be noted that many coronavirus cases reported worldwide in the last month have come from carriers who are asymptomatic). So, why is a million-plus test something of a feat?
To put this in perspective, this news comes at a time when even global players such as the United States have come under scanner for lack of testing - once owing to a shortage of supply. As a Harvard study suggested recently, for a population of 329 million, the US needs to conduct 20 million Covid tests per day before it reopens fully. By the same average, the UAE seems to have done fairly well, conducting more than 30,000 tests on an average per day for a population of roughly 9.5 million even before it reopened only partially. Questions may still remain on how much testing do we need to do in order to flatten the curve. The World Health Organization has shown the light with a guiding principle. It has set a benchmark of 10 per cent positive cases - in other words, the number of cases coming out positive should be 10 per cent or less. The rationale is simple - anything above that mark indicates that there are probably more people who have been infected but not tested yet. 
With a testing rate of one in ten people, and number of positive cases reported close to 10,300, a serious attempt has been made to contain the spread further. Add to that the genome sequencing of the virus has already been done to help scientists understand how it grows, and the ambition of flattening the curve does seem more attainable in near future. All this, along with the relentless hard work and commitment of frontline workers, does offer a ray of hope.