Testing in South Africa is so far reserved for people with clear symptoms, recently returned from a highly-affected country, or who have had contact with confirmed cases.
Peter Serati rolled down the car window and opened his mouth as a lab worker reached in to take a swab at a drive-in coronavirus testing centre in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city.
As a result, the government has partnered with the private sector to scale up its response and more than 6,000 people have been tested so far. Teacher Letsebogo Ramalfo, 36, was referred to a lab after a colleague caught the virus and he himself came down with a cough.“They don’t have these swabs, they say they are finished,” said Ramalfo.At the government Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, patients often spend hours in poorly-sanitised waiting rooms.
A nurse told AFP that between 200 and 300 people had turned up for testing on Wednesday. Most had been turned away for lack of symptoms.
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