Mass testing the best weapon against Covid-19

Medical staff in protective gear work at a 'drive-thru' testing centre for Covid-19 on March 3 in Daegu, South Korea. Such aggressive mass testing efforts, followed with contact tracing and isolation, has helped the country see a decline in the number of new infections. — Reuters

Although scientists around the world are working at breakneck speed to research Covid-19, much remains unknown about the disease. Meanwhile, the number of cases and the death toll continue to rise rapidly. How do policymakers make public health decisions to effectively tackle a disease when information about it is limited?

Epidemiological modelling studies are increasingly gaining influence in guiding government response to rapidly evolving infectious disease outbreaks. Models allow public health decision-makers to take decisive action even when empirical data are scarce. Infectious disease modelling has been used to support public health decision-making in several major outbreaks such as H1N1 influenza in 2009, Ebola in 2014-2016 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015.