Lviv IT Cluster in cooperation with Lviv Regional State Administration is launching a mass testing campaign for COVID-19 in Lviv and Lviv region.
On Monday, March 23, Lviv IT Cluster launched the United for health charity initiative mobilizing the city’s IT community to help Lviv and Lviv region combat the spread of COVID-19. In just a few days, Lviv IT Cluster members raised 3 million UAH for COVID-19 antibody express tests. The first batch (20,000 tests) is expected to arrive within 9 days.
Lviv IT Cluster considers mass testing the most urgent measure in the city and region today. “IT community supports reasonable and efficient solutions. We are all under quarantine, but we don’t even know what the actual COVID-19 statistics are in our city or region. Some people infected with coronavirus do not show any symptoms, while others who are staying in hospitals might have been misdiagnosed. However, we need to get the numbers and the maximum amount of data to combat the virus. Therefore, we believe express mass testing is a vital step right now,” says Stepan Veselovskyi, CEO at Lviv IT Cluster.
During the first stage, tests will be offered to the residents of Lviv and Lviv region who have recently returned from foreign countries and also who have SARS symptoms, as well as people who have been in contact with those diagnosed with COVID-19. The testing is free of charge for everyone and will be carried out by mobile labs. The medical crew will consist of a doctor, nurse, driver, and a policeman. The testing will be held according to the protocol of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, considering the best practices of South Corea and Germany. According to Stepan Veselovskyi, all data about the residents and their test results will be stored by medical labs and carefully analyzed. After carrying out a large number of tests (10,000 or 20,000), it will even be possible to make forecasts concerning the medical facilities’ workload. Moreover, we will be able to identify the geolocations where the virus has the potential to spread most quickly and thus are the most dangerous.
“It is not a matter of one day to carry out such testing and it will take a lot of effort. However, I am sure that this effort will give us the result that we hope for – saving the lives and health of millions of Ukrainians. We are grateful to Lviv IT Cluster for support and social responsibility,” said about the cooperation Maksym Kozytskyi, the chairman of the Lviv Regional State Administration.