Durban - KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala and provincial health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu officially launched the province's mass homescreening and testing campaign at the Jika Joe informal settlement in Pietermaritzburg in the Msunduzi Municipality on Thursday.
The roll-out of the screening and testing programme is part of government's response to curbing the spread of the virus as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the national lockdown.
Speaking during the launch, Zikalala said coronavirus outbreak represented a significant risk to both the province and the country.
"More effort is now required to conduct more surveillance and screening for Covid-19, hence the strategy of conducting mass community screening and testing. The Provincial Community and Testing Screening plan complements the Contact Tracing Plan and will yet prove to be a vital cog in our efforts to intensify this fight. These ground soldiers will be going house to house screening and testing our people," he said.
Zikalala called on the community to cooperate with the testing staff.
He said all healthcare workers will be issued with reflector vests which clearly identify them.
"We wish to reiterate that, before these field agents can commence with screening and testing, we will also conduct loud-hailing and also announce in the media where possible, in order to create community awareness. To further heighten awareness, teams of health educators will distribute pamphlets to households," he said.
There are 565 mass screening and testing teams, which amounts to 1130 cadres distributed throughout the province.
These teams work in pairs, and are constituted mostly by enrolled nurses. In addition to that, there are 90 teams focusing on road blocks, and 620 tracer teams providing contact tracing.
These teams have been trained on mass screening and testing using a questionnaire with 27 questions available in both English and IsiZulu.
There is a standard operating procedure in a form of a guideline provided to these teams. The teams are working with community health workers from local areas.
Zikalala said the teams enter the household, administer the questionnaire and if there is any suspect they then take a specimen.
"There are 12 mobile testing vehicles provided in the province, of which four vehicles have already been received. Three of these vehicles are allocated in eThekwini, due to the high burden of this pandemic, while the other vehicle is allocated in Umgungundlovu district. The mobile testing vehicle comes with one driver and a professional nurse. As soon as we start using rapid tests, these teams will also be joined by medical technologists," he said.
For those who are suspected cases, they will be referred to a health facility to be tested.
For those who did not travel, have not been in contact with anyone who tested positive for Covid-19 and who do not have symptoms, Zikalala said there is no need to panic.
"You will have nothing to worry about, but must still on doing things to protect yourself," he said.
Zikalala said the initial stage of data collection is paper based, but at a later stage the teams will be using cell phones which will be loaded with an application, or an app, that will feed into a database.
"The app will enable easy supervision of these teams, since they will be observed in a live household setting, which will enable real time information.
We once again call upon the people of South Africa to join hands with us as we take the war against coronavirus to the next level," he said.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds, or use alcohol-based hand sanitiser
• Cover your nose and mouth with a disposable tissue or flexed elbow when you cough or sneeze
• Do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth
• Avoid close contact (1 meter) with people who are unwell
• Stay at home and self-isolate from others in the household if you feel unwell