Action plan to wipe out virus testing backlog

The Western Cape government is considering broadening its testing criteria in the wake of a drastic drop in the Covid-19 testing backlog from 27000 to just over 3000.

Provincial head of Health Keith Cloete said they had received an undertaking to have the backlog completely eradicated, which would allow them to examine the capacity of testing labs across the province, and would heavily influence the province’s decision.

On Thursday the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) briefed Parliament’s portfolio committee on health on how it was dealing with backlog of Covid-19 specimens submitted for testing.

As the province with the largest number of infections, the Western Cape has experienced a large backlog in test results with in-hospital patients waiting up to seven days for results, while those out of hospital reported waiting for more than a week.

For the Western Cape, the NHLS’s action plan included allocating a large number of high-throughput test kits for the province and providing additional equipment for laboratories at Tygerberg and in Green Point.

They also collaborated with the Centre for Proteomic and Genomic Research as of Monday, the Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa and the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative.

According to the service, the Western Cape has the second highest number of tests conducted at 114381 as compared to Gauteng’s 151964, but has a positivity rate of 18.56%, the highest by far in the country.

By Wednesday, the backlog in the province stood at 3727.

“That backlog going down has been as a result of quite a number of things the NHLS has done, like bringing in extra capacity into system, so we are heartened that the backlog has been worked on to this extent,” said Cloete.

“There is an undertaking from our colleagues that they will do all they can to work away the backlog completely.

“The impact that has had on the waiting time for people in hospital, about 10 to 14 days ago that would have been five days, but over the last three days people waiting for results get them that same day or the next day. That has made a big difference.

“We are cautiously optimistic and are talking to our colleagues to try and figure out what is the lab capacity for the next week or two to see if we can start increasing our testing regiment, to start including additional tests.”

Currently, the Western Cape Department of Health is testing only people who are older than 55 or younger who have co-morbidities, health workers and those already in hospital with symptoms.

In previous engagements, Cloete said those who present to healthcare centres but did not fall under the listed categories would be screened and advised to self-isolate at home for 14 days with the assumption that they had Covid-19.

This has already created challenges for some who couldn’t be tested because they did not meet the criteria.

A retail worker from Kraaifontein, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “My brother tested positive on Monday and when I tried to get tested I was told to monitor my symptoms at home. I did not have a fever or anything, but my issue is going back to work, my employer will only let me stay at home for the whole 14 days if I have test results that show that I tested positive otherwise this means no work no pay.”