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News24 reports that according to a top professor, testing of people previously diagnosed for Covid-19 to ensure they were no longer infectious before returning to work was "nonsense and must stop".
Professor Wolfgang Preiser, head of medical virology at Stellenbosch University, stated that henceforth people who did not meet a strict criteria for targeted testing should not be tested. Preiser is also a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) advising the government on Covid-19. His comments came amid a heated debate between the Department of Health, Minister Zweli Mkhize and top scientists over the future of the country's Covid-19 strategy. SA faces an acute shortage of Covid-19 tests and has a backlog of about 63,000. Professor Preiser said: "Testing of people previously diagnosed as infected, for example before they are allowed back to work, is nonsense and must stop; in uncomplicated cases, two weeks after [the] onset of illness and, in more severe cases, two weeks after coming off oxygen support is sufficient waiting time to make sure the individual is no longer infectious.” Mkhize indicated last week that the country would move towards a more targeted regime, focusing on infection hotspots, hospitalised patients and healthcare workers. But with a prioritised, targeted testing strategy comes the question of what to do about the backlog of tests in laboratories.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sarah Evans at News24
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