NHLS gradually reducing Covid-19 testing backlog, parliament hears
While the NHLS' machinery gives it the capacity to do 35,000 tests a day, it only does about 10,000 because of the availability of the test kits.
A health worker at a screening and testing site in Alexandra Stadium, 27 April 2020. The mobile testing vehicles targeted Joburg’s epicenter region E, and had testing vehicles all around the area which included Sandton, Marlboro Riverclub and Modderfontein, among others. Picture: Neil McCartney
The National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) is working hard to make inroads into the backlog of Covid-19 tests, and according to the statistics provided to both houses of parliament’s health committees, they are making progress.
On 25 May, the “exact figure of specimens that have not been processed” was 96,480, the Department of Health confirmed after much confusion.
On Wednesday, the NHLS informed the committees the backlog is 63,244.
“As of 8 June 2020, the NHLS has conducted 492,704 tests,” NHLS CEO Kamy Chetty told the MPs.
She said the NHLS has increased the number of tests done each month with a massive increase in the number of tests being performed during the month of May, where the figures more than doubled between April and May.
Tests
In the first week of June, 105,023 tests were done. This is already almost half of the 232,862 tests that were done in the whole of May and more than April’s 94,203 tests. In March, 6,341 tests were done and, in February, 276.
In the Western Cape, the province with the vast majority of the country’s Covid-19 cases, 114,381 tests were done by 8 June, with 21,232 positive cases and 814 inconclusive.
The Western Cape has a positivity rate of 18.56%, much higher than the national average of 5.9%. The Eastern Cape has the second-highest positivity rate with 5.4%.
Unprocessed specimens are specimens that have been at a laboratory for longer than three days after it has been registered.
A reasonable time to clear a sample through the laboratory, if all test kits and resources are available, is 48 to 72 hours.
The downward trend in the backlog is illustrated by the following: On 21 May, the backlog was 101,000 specimens; by 25 May, it was 96,480; by 28 May, it was 83,767; by 4 June, it was 81,069; by 6 June, it was 70,219; and by 10 June, it was 63,244.
While the NHLS’ machinery gives it the capacity to do 35,000 tests a day, it only does about 10,000 because of the availability of the test kits.
Chetty said each person who is tested is advised to self-isolate for 14 days, which should prevent people from spreading the disease. Therefore, the backlog itself shouldn’t be affecting people’s behaviour.
She said the specimens were stored under very specific conditions, so there shouldn’t be any contamination.
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