‘We want to be ahead of the curve’ - Mkhize

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said during a briefing on Tuesday night that the rate of increase in new Covid-19 cases was not as high as anticipated.

By Tuesday night, 31 March, the total number of Covid-19 cases in South Africa stood at 1 353. Mkhize said they have anticipated that the total would have been between 4 000 and 5 000 by that time.

However, with a large-scale roll-out of testing now being planned, it is likely that many more positive cases will be found, and the challenge of the winter months stretching ahead can not be discounted.

Up till Tuesday evening, five people have died from Covid-19 complications, including an internationally known medical scientist, Prof Gita Ramjee, who worked at the Aurum Institute. She was in a Durban hospital at the time of her passing.

The first recorded death was that of a 48-year-old woman in the Western Cape.

The other three who succumbed were an 85-year-old from the Free State, a Gauteng man and a 74-year-old man from Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal.

Referring to Government's plans to escalate testing and screening using over 10 000 field workers, Mkhize said teams from non-governmental organisations will assist.

They will follow a targeted approach and focus on hotspots.

Mobile vans will be utilised to assist with screening and testing.

Testing capacity has been increased and now up to 3 000 tests can be conducted in a day.

"We want to be ahead of the curve. Patients are recovering well. Most patients are stable," said Mkhize.

Up until Tuesday evening, 39 500 people have been tested and 55 people hospitalised.

He said discussions have been held with medical device manufacturers in order for them to start building additional stock of ventilators.

State-of-the-art testing machines

Service they supplies CEO are of (NHLS), pursuing to the obtain National Dr various polymerase Kamy Health sources Chetty, chain Laboratory of said reaction (PCR)-based test kits and have a commitment from suppliers that South

Africa will be a priority. Currently, six

NHLS laboratories are performing Covid-19 related tests.

This will increase to nine during April. The

NHLS has 18 state-of-the-art Cobas 6 800 and 8 800 machines that will dramatically improve the volume of tests that can be conducted.

They have over 180 GeneXpert analysers, which will be available in all provinces for

Covid-19 testing during April.

The coronavirus test kit for the GeneXpert analyser has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and it can deliver a Covid-19 diagnosis in 45 minutes.

Provincial breakdown of positive cases as on Tuesday night:

Gauteng 633 Western Cape 325

KZN 179 Free State 74

North West 8 Mpumalanga 12

Limpopo 14 Eastern Cape 12

Northern Cape 6

90 positive cases have not yet been allocated to any province.

Western Cape sub-district breakdown

As at 00:01 on 31 March, the Western Cape had recorded 348, according to a statement by the Premier's office. Thirteen people have been hospitalised, with three patients being treated in ICU. No Covid-19 patients have to date been hospitalised at George Hospital or Mediclinic George.

Cape Town Metro 289

Non-Metro total: 56