According to the latest Covid-19 figures, Gauteng already has more than 11,000 positive cases of the viral disease, but the results of some of the province’s residents are longer than 10 days.
Jack Bloom, the DA’s spokesperson on health in Gauteng, says the problem is especially in Ward 58, which includes Mayfair, Fordsburg, Homestead Park and Vrededorp. Test centers were set up there on June 4 and 5, but many people are still waiting for their results. One of those people is DA ward councilor Alex Christians.
Christians also said that health inspectors were extremely frustrated because the test samples were not properly marked and therefore were struggling to track cases where there were inquiries.
Another who struggled with delayed results was the DA councilor in Ekurhuleni, Khetha Shandu. Shandu did a Covid-19 test in Tembisa on May 22. He only got his test result three weeks later. It was negative, but Bloom says someone with whom Covid-19 has not yet been diagnosed but is contagious can make many other people sick.
“Gauteng needs to change its strategy of conducting large numbers of Covid 19 tests in the community urgently in light of the ongoing slow turnaround and the current backlog of 23,000 tests in the province,” Bloom said.
He said medical experts had urged that limited testing capacity be utilized smarter so that tests for vulnerable health workers and hospital patients were given preference.
