COVID19 tests need to be increased during remaining lockdown period
17 April 2020
The rate of testing for the Covid-19 virus is far below where it should be. The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls for a rapid increase in testing capacity for the remainder of this lockdown period.
If testing, tracing and tracking in South Africa is not massively ramped up, our five weeks of lockdown runs the risk of being in vain. The function of the nation-wide lockdown is to massively decrease transmissions of the virus and to allow the health system to build capacity for the inevitable spike in infections. To fully prepare for this, South Africa needs to have an accurate understanding of the extent of infections in communities.
I will write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee of Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, to request that the issue of Covid-19 testing is placed on the agenda of the next committee meeting briefing by the Minister of Health.
95 060 tests have been done across the country. This number is not enough when one considers the international benchmark which requires that at least 17 000 tests be conducted daily.
While the number of tests done are on the rise, the progress is slow and South Africa is in a race against time.
Increasing testing capacity is one of the most effective ways that South Africa can beat this pandemic. Understanding the infection and reproduction rates in our communities will scientifically guide government’s interventions.
The capacity of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) needs to be urgently attended to. The NHLS has a larger national footprint than any private laboratory service in the country and should be leading the charge in testing figures. Together with this, the tracing and tracking teams need to be given the support, training and community awareness to successfully support the testing efforts.
The Department of Health rightfully began mass community screening and subsequent testing exactly 2 weeks ago, during South Africa’s 21-day lockdown period. However, the health system is still not able to conduct enough tests in order to give an accurate reflection of local transmissions of the pandemic. It has been 6 weeks since the first Covid-19 case was confirmed, in that time we have yet to breach the 100 000 mark.
Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, has committed that the rapid tests and those conducted with the TB Gene Xpert machines will be rolled out by the end of the month. This will coincide with the lifting of the country’s lockdown and the inevitable spike of infections as we head into the winter months. These efforts need to come on board in the next week. We can no longer afford any further delays.
With 14 days to go before the lockdown restrictions are eased in one way or another, the Department of Health must allocate all available resources to ensuring that South Africa is meeting the 25 000 tests per day target that has been set. However, this needs to happen during this lockdown period in order to have an accurate reflection of infections in communities within the next week. Should this opportunity be missed, South Africa may find itself on the back foot in this fight.
Issued by Siviwe Gwarube, DA Shadow Minister of Health, 17 April 2020
