DA in Mpumalanga call on government to increase Covid-19 testing
“By keeping residents in the dark, you leave room for speculation which often results in fake news being spread around.”
Ms Jane Sithole, DA-spokesman on health in Mpumalanga, issued a press release on 12 May about the coronavirus statistics.
According to information gathered independently by the DA, only 7 697 (three per cent) out of nearly five million Mpumalanga residents have been tested for Covid-19.
“This is not enough to curb and manage the potential spread of Covid-19,” Ms Sithole said.
“With this slow pace of testing, this virus may spread unnoticed and become unmanageable.”
The statement went on to say that concerned residents have been calling for provincial health MEC, Ms Sasekani Manzini, to reveal how many people have been tested for Covid-19 in Mpumalanga, but to date the MEC has not revealed this information to the public.
The DA is currently, through a PAIA (Promotion of Access to Information Act) application, attempting to compel the MEC to release this information daily.
“Public health specialists have come out saying that it is now time to move from surveillance of the virus to active case-finding and focusing on the hotspot areas, which means intervening in the clusters, where the disease has shown to be problematic,” she added.
According to the DA, this change of strategy is necessary as the community-screening-process has not yielded the detection of cases as expected.
“Mpumalanga is the only province that doesn’t publish provincial Covid-19 stats daily,” she concluded.
“By keeping residents in the dark, you leave room for speculation which often result in fake news being spread around.
“The National Health Department releases daily statistics that are broken down into province, fatalities and most importantly tests conducted.
“Mpumalanga had reported 63 positive cases of Covid-19 with 24 recoveries.”
Also read: DA questions Mpumalanga’s Covid-19 stats
- Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news
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