After weeks of delays caused by equipment shortages and logistical glitches, mass testing for the Covid-19 coronavirus is set to be ramped up this week when the government dispatches an army of 10 000 health workers throughout South Africa
It’s all systems go as 10 000 health workers gear up to conduct mass screenings in hotspots countrywide
Until now, most of the testing was conducted by the private sector and was restricted to individuals exhibiting two or more symptoms associated with the coronavirus. “Demand for testing will increase significantly next week as we move from passive case finding to active case detection. Real testing will be happening in the next two weeks,” he said, adding that the two-week extension of the lockdown was informed by the need to ramp up testing, along with other reasons.Pillay added that while mass testing would be rolled out, officials would not test all people randomly.
“After the sample is taken, it takes about 24 hours to confirm if the patient is positive or negative. The results are dispatched back to the testing centre electronically.”Dr Yogan Pillay The information coming from the frontline workers and provinces will then be used by us to make decisions,” she said.
In its statement, the PHF, along with its co-signatories – namely, the SA Medical Association, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA, the SA Private Practitioners’ Forum and the Independent Practitioners’ Association Foundation of SA – said: “Worse still, a failure in the timely procurement of appropriate test kits has sparked a proliferation of private entities and interests peddling dubious testing kits.
“It is not a secret that the National Institute for Communicable Diseases , which has all the epidemiological scientists, has been at loggerheads with its mother body because of very poor management. Dr Kamy Chetty, chief executive of the NHLS, said she was unaware of any butting of heads between the organisations, saying they worked as one organisation.
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