A SHARP increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases is expected in the Eastern Cape as a lab in Nelson Mandela Bay is now able do 1 000 tests a day.
With the decentralisation of tests, the National Health Laboratory Service in Mount Croix has been given the mandate to perform tests locally in the hopes of making up the backlog of tests. The lab already started analysing its first 10 samples on Thursday morning last week.
Senior pathologist in clinical virology at the lab, Dr Howard Newman, said that it was important to involve as many labs as possible to help with testing during a pandemic.
“The goal is to do 30 000 tests a day. It is a lot, but we have the equipment and resources at our disposal. The only challenge is getting a hold of the reaction substances that are sometimes difficult to find in the country, especially with the travel ban currently in place.”
At this lab, it will take approximately three hours to test a sample, which means that the result should be available the same day.
“It will now be a lot faster than before, when all the samples were sent to Johannesburg.
“The analyses will take place here and for now we will test all the Eastern Cape’s samples here in Port Elizabeth,” Newman said.
Samples brought to the lab will also be tested immediately in order to avoid delays in the issuing of results.
Newman added that the only delay they are expecting, would be logistics regarding the collection of samples in secluded rural areas.
Eastern Cape premier, Oscar Mabuyane, recently visited the lab along with Health MEC, Sindiswa Gomba, and voiced his satisfaction on the readiness of the lab.
“I am very optimistic, especially with the mass testing that will be starting (this week). We just have to be ready on all possible levels.”
Mabuyane admitted that he is expecting a rise of confirmed cases in the province. “With all the tests expected to come, we might see that the relatively low numbers are as a result of a backlog.
“Last week, just before lockdown, we saw an influx of people coming into the province from other provinces where the outbreak is larger, so the more we test, the more clarity we will have.”
According to Gomba, most of the people tested so far, have done so at private facilities. She emphasised that most of the new cases are from different provinces, but the department will work tirelessly to find out who the patients were in contact with locally. Gomba added that the districts where the positive cases were identified, will be the starting point for the mass testing.
This means that residents of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Buffalo City Metro and the Amathole and Sarah Baartman districts, will be at the top of the list.
“This doesn’t mean we accept that there are no cases in the other districts, but we can’t start at a point where there are no cases and just leave out the districts that have cases,” she said.
In the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, five mobile testing units will be used to help with the mass testing.
Mabuyane said that more quarantine sites have been identified across the various districts in the province, in case the spread of the virus increases.
