According to the Secretary of State for Public Health, Franco Mufinda, the 10 new cases, six female and four male, between the ages of 7 and 84, are all from Luanda.
The patient who died was an Angolan "apparently healthy until a week ago," when she began "a picture of asthenia" marked by fatigue and fever, which was initially treated as malaria.
Franco Mufinda pointed out that testing had begun in the community, aimed at "large conglomerates where biosecurity measures are not being met.
According to the Secretary of State, the rapid tests, already validated by the US regulator, have "a high rate of sensitivity, but also of specificity, allowing safer screening in certain populations".
So far, Angola has used molecular-based tests known as RT-PCR, with a harvest of genetic material, through a swab, which can be done from the third day of symptoms and are considered more reliable.
The serological tests allow to evaluate the immunity of all those who may have contacted the virus, detecting antibodies (IgG and IgM) and at what stage of the disease the person is at.
Of the 1,000 people tested this Wednesday at the Catinton market in Luanda, 44 were reactive and, among these, three expressed being in an active phase of the disease, said the Secretary of State.
These three people were isolated, while the other 41 "had an IgG reading, accused the virus and built immunity," according to Franco Mufinda.
In Kwanza Norte, of the 481 people tested in the last two days, 27 reacted to the test and five were in the active phase of the disease, while the other 22 had already developed immunity.
Samples will be taken from the 71 "reactive" people, i.e. where the presence of antibodies that react to the virus has been detected, Mufinda said.
According to the Health Commissioner, another 2000 people will be tested using this method on Thursday at the markets of Thirty and Kikolo.
Angola already has 396 infected with covid-19, of which 22 died and 117 patients recovered.
In the last 24 hours, 1686 tests have been performed, of which 205 RT PCR and 1481 rapid tests among which 71 were reactive.
The covid-19 pandemic has already caused more than 544,000 deaths and infected more than 11.85 million people in 196 countries and territories, according to a balance sheet made by the French agency AFP.
In Africa, there are 11,955 confirmed deaths in more than 508,000 infected in 54 countries, according to the latest pandemic statistics on the continent.
Among the African countries that have Portuguese as their official language, Equatorial Guinea leads in number of infections and deaths (3071 cases and 51 deaths), followed by Guinea-Bissau (1790 cases and 25 deaths), Cape Verde (1542 cases and 18 deaths), Mozambique (1071 cases and eight deaths), São Tomé and Príncipe (724 cases and 13 deaths) and Angola (396 infected and 22 deaths).
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected at the end of December in Wuhan, a city in central China.
