Testing times for SA, and it’s the way to go

With an increase in local transmissions, more testing is required to break the taboo that the virus only affects those with a passport, says Health Professions Council of South Africa president Dr Kgosi Letlape.

“We now have community transmission which means you no longer need to have travelled to be susceptible because [Covid-19] is now in the communities.

“More [screening and testing] will dispel this myth that the virus is selective on rich people who travel and have passports.

“Once we have community transmission, it means all of us, regardless of tribe and class, are susceptible to getting the virus,” he said.

Community screening and testing would also break the back of the pandemic, said Doctors Without Borders’ infectious disease doctor Gilles van Cutsem.

“Identifying the cases, ensuring those infected don’t infect others and monitoring their contacts is the way of breaking the back of this epidemic,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the race against the coronavirus, Germany is betting on widespread testing and quarantining to break the infection chain, a strategy borrowed from South Korea whose success in slowing the outbreak has become the envy of the world.

Germany is already carrying out more coronavirus tests than any other European country at a rate of 300,000 to 500,000 a week, according to officials.

But Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government aims to ramp that up to at least 200,000 tests a day, according to an interior ministry document seen by several German media outlets.

With 389 deaths out of more than 52,000 cases, Germany has a mortality rate of just 0.7% compared with around 10% in hardest-hit Italy and 8% in Spain.

According to a presentation by Shair Madhi, professor of vaccinology at the University of the Witswatersrand, the lockdown will not contain the pandemic but only extend the period of the infections.

What was required was more testing. He said not enough testing was done to effectively manage this pandemic.

“Current numbers significantly underestimate the actual number of infections and Covid-19 cases. [We should] expect an even more accelerated increase in Covid-19 cases once testing is more available and [there is] a change in the criteria of testing,” he said.

According to Wits vice-chancellor Adam Habib on Twitter, another key takeaway from Madhi’s presentation was that the current plans to procure equipment were not sufficient.

“They will come in too late to ramp up the testing. We need the testing now, not in four to six weeks. Moreover, our public health facilities are not sufficiently capacitated to meet the health challenge that is on its way,” Habib said.

“We have to acknowledge the very deep skill deficits in our hospitals and public institutions.

“Decades of political appointments and deployments will now haunt us. But we can mitigate its effects if we enable public-private and state-civil society partnerships to manage this pandemic.”

The lesson was, Habib said, that we need to test, test and test. In Gauteng, the City of Tshwane screened an average of 4,400 patients per day at each of their 24 clinics since last Monday.

Those that showed Covid-19 symptoms would be referred to relevant clinics for testing, said spokesperson Selby Bokaba.

“Those that have tested positive, but have mild symptoms, will remain in isolation at home if their home environment is suitable for self-isolation, or will be placed at a facility provided by government,” Bokaba said.

The Western Cape health department also identified seven areas in the province where mass screening would commence today.

“We urge community members to welcome the community health workers and to co-operate with them,” said Premier Alan Winde.

KwaZulu-Natal rolled out home screening and testing campaigns in Umlazi township at the weekend.

At least 200 households were screened.

“This is the only way to contain the virus,” Habib said.

– Additional reporting by AFP

– rorisangk@citizen.co.za

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