#Covid19: Lack of reagents to blame for testing backlog
The lack of chemical compounds, critical to a Covid-19 test, is one of the major reasons for the testing backlog.
A LACK of reagents is the reason KwaZulu-Natal is lagging behind in testing.
This was the answer by Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, MEC for Health, when asked about the backlog in testing numbers.
Reagents are chemical substances used in a chemical-based test to match a virus’ genome.
They are a key ingredient in establishing whether someone is infected with the virus and in determining if they have antibody immunity.
“We had to come back to the drawing board and agree on a process of prioritising our cases. We agreed that health workers, patients in (health) facilities and contacts of a positive case become prioritised and then community screening becomes our last,” she said.
Last week, Lancet Laboratories announced their testing centres in KZN were at over capacity. As a result, they announced that they would be temporarily halting testing requests from patients not considered in the high risk category.
Simelane-Zulu said the testing backlog is now down to 3000 from 20 000 last month.
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