Ten thousand field workers being deployed on a “huge scale” to screen people and families for COVID-19 symptoms will be accompanied by police and carry identification.
“We are now entering a new phase in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Around 10 000 field workers will be visiting homes in villages, towns and cities to screen residents for COVID-19 symptoms,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said. “People with symptoms will be referred to local clinics or mobile clinics for testing. People who are infected with Coronavirus, but who have no or moderate symptoms will remain in isolation at home or at a facility provided by government and those with severe symptoms will be transferred to hospitals,” the President said.
The Times report quotes Health Department deputy director-general Dr Yogan Pillay as saying that the field workers would have identification badges, wear the same T-shirts and be required to carry their official ID documents. Police officers would accompany them – to protect the community being screened as well as the field workers themselves.
Pillay said community leaders would be alerted about the presence of field workers in their areas. They in turn could alert the community on when to expect visits. He said more than half of the field workers had already been brought on board and the 10,000 testing target would be achieved in the next few days.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has been talking about how the country will ramp up testing for COVID-19, yet laboratories have a backlog of more than 5,000 tests, says a Mail & Guardian report. The impact of this has been confirmed by doctors in the private and public sector, who say that there is quite a backlog in getting results for COVID-19 tests.
The report says Health Department spokesperson, Popo Maja did not respond to questions about the backlog. In the last few weeks, the department has taken to not answering questions, saying rather that it will address issues in press briefings.
The report says a private laboratory doctor has confirmed that the backlog was growing. “The backlog is mostly due to people who are panicking and want to be tested for no reason.” This panic testing will put pressure on an already strained system.
But, the report said, South Africa is not the only country battling with this. Media in Canada report that the country was also experiencing backlogs because of a short supply of important testing chemicals. “We all would want more tests,” Canada’s chief public officer, Dr Theresa Tam, was quoted saying.
To stem the tide of infections, the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), is planning to boost testing capacity to 36,000 tests daily by the end of next month. According to the NHLS, it is currently testing around 5,000 samples a day.
City Press quotes Health Minister Zweli Mkhize as saying a total of 12,815 tests had been conducted in the country and that around 10 000 of these were done in private laboratories. If around 5,000 tests were conducted each day since then, the total tests carried out so far should now be well over 2, 000.
The report says to meet the 36,000 daily tests target, the number of testing laboratories will be increased from six to nine by end of next month. The number of mobile laboratories will also go up from four to 20. Globally, efforts are continuing to urgently develop new diagnostics and to increase testing capacity to catch positive cases. Local health experts have argued that for South Africa’s national lockdown to have maximum impact it must be accompanied by expanded testing, contact tracing and isolation of those who are infected.
In some countries such as Italy where initial testing was slow, high infection rates have put pressure on health facilities. The primary focus has now shifted from testing for possible infection to having enough beds and ventilators for the seriously ill. The report says in South Korea, on the other hand, testing began early and vigorously which, together with contact tracing, led to the country bringing its epidemic under control relatively quickly.
NHLS CEO Kamy Chetty said the organisation had sufficient equipment to meet current demand and had received undertakings from suppliers of polymerase chain reaction test kits that South Africa would be a priority, reports Business Day. The NHLS would increase the number of laboratories performing COVID-19 tests from six to nine, and the number of mobile testing sites would increase from four to 20 by the end of April, Chetty is quoted in the report as saying.
The NHLS has 18 Cobas 6,800 and 8,800 machines, and more than 180 GeneXpert analysers, which were originally procured for testing for tuberculosis. The test kit for the GeneXpert was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last week, and test kits are due to arrive in South Africa in April, she said.
[link url="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-03-31-how-to-tell-if-door-to-door-field-workers-screening-for-virus-are-legit/"]Full report in The Times[/link]
[link url="https://mg.co.za/article/2020-03-26-test-backlog-skews-sas-corona-stats/"]Full Mail & Guardian report[/link]
[link url="https://city-press.news24.com/Voices/covid-19-testing-to-be-ramped-up-and-new-tests-in-pipeline-20200328"]Full City Press report[/link]
[link url="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/health/2020-03-25-state-lab-targets-36000-coronavirus-tests-a-day-by-the-end-of-april/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Bold+move+as+Reserve+Bank+turns+to+%E2%80%98quantitative+easing%E2%80%99+%7C+Naidoo+reappointment+at+Reserve+Bank+%E2%80%98ensures+continuity%E2%80%99+%7C+Peter+Bruce+on+how+at+least+we+are+well-led&utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businesslive.co.za%2Fbd%2Fnational%2Fhealth%2F2020-03-25-state-lab-targets-36000-coronavirus-tests-a-day-by-the-end-of-april%2F"]Full Business Day report[/link]