WESTERN CAPE NEWS - The Covid-19 testing backlog has dropped dramatically from 27 000 two weeks ago to 3 727 as of yesterday, Wednesday 10 June. This was announced by the head of the Western Cape Health Department, Dr Keith Cloete, during a digicon hosted by Premier Alan Winde earlier today.
"This backlog working away has been on the back of quite a few things that the NHLS (National Health Laboratory Services) has done, like process re-engineering, looking at their systems, and bringing additional capacity to the system. We are very heartened that the backlog has been worked away to that extent. There is an undertaking from our colleagues there to do whatever they can within their power by tomorrow to work away the backlog completely."
He said the impact on the waiting time for results has been significant. About 10 to 14 days ago, people in hospital would have waited for up to five days for their test results. This week, they are getting it on the same day or the following day. His department is trying to determine from the NHLS what the real lab capacity is for the next week or two to see whether they can start increasing their testing regimen, and start including additional testing.
Because of the backlog, testing for the novel coronavirus has been done on a priority basis for the past few weeks.
Tests have been reserved for specific groups of people who are experiencing symptoms: healthcare workers, those over the age of 55, those in hospital or in old-age homes, as well as those under the age of 55 with comorbidities (including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, TB, chronic lung disease and HIV with poor ARV adherence).
More details around the expansion of capacity at the NHLS are being awaited.
According to the daily report of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), testing has increased significantly during the past week. Whereas the number of daily tests hovered at under 20 000 during early May and increased to just over 20 000 during the latter part of that month, the latest testing statistics show up to and over 40 000 tests conducted on some days.
In the 24 hours up to Saturday 6 June, 40 797 tests were conducted.
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