Cape Town – The province is expanding its Covid-19 testing criteria to allow anyone in the Cape Metro and rural areas showing symptoms of Covid-19 to get tested.
The new testing criteria now include people with Covid-19 symptoms, preoperative testing of asymptomatic patients awaiting surgery, natural deaths occurring at home with Covid-19 symptoms, health-care workers, and people who previously tested positive and have developed new symptoms (90 days after their first tests).
The testing strategy was restricted in the metro region in July due to a massive testing backlog at the National Health Laboratory Service.
The drop in Covid-19 infections in the province allowed for more Covid-19 tests to be conducted.
The test positivity rate for the province remains below 10%, according to Premier Alan Winde.
“This, coupled with other indicators such as the number of deaths, hospitalisations, and oxygen consumption (which currently stands at 38% of total capacity), gives us reliable evidence that infections in the province are still declining,” he said.
“This does not mean that we can let our guard down, and prevention measures such as mask wearing, social distancing, and hand and surface hygiene continue to be important as we move forward.”
The premier said that there are no reliable tools which would help predict the likelihood, location or timing of a resurgence of Covid-19.
“Ongoing surveillance is key to helping us identify and understand emerging trends. The expanded testing criteria will allow us to more accurately track and manage infections in the province.”
The province recorded 111 321 cases and 104 839 recoveries as at 1pm yesterday, according to the daily Covid-19 update.
Cape Argus