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Mkhize to request Ministerial Advisory Committee to expand COVID-19 testing criteria

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Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize says he will request the Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19 to review the criteria for people to get tested for the coronavirus.

Mkhize is in KwaZulu-Natal to assess its readiness for the expected peak in infections in the province in the coming weeks.

South Africa has in the past few days registered a relatively low number of COVID-19 infections.

Dr Mkhize says testing in some areas has declined due to many people not meeting the current criteria for testing. He says that people must not be complacent if they see the numbers decline.

“The fact that we are not getting to a point where we say we have got no new infections is because there are still many people not washing hands, not using sanitisers and not distancing. We have checked on the number of areas to see what is the reason, why there are fewer tests in some of the instances? They have said to us that they are not having enough patients under investigation. We actually want to keep the level of testing high and so we asked the ministerial advisory committee to have a look at that and see whether in fact we would vary the criteria.”

Richmond TB Hospital 

Mkhize says he is satisfied with the use of the Richmond TB hospital to cater for COVID-19 patients. He visited the newly-renovated facility in Richmond. The 95-bed facility is already admitting COVID-19 patients.

He has urged people who have tested positive for COVID-19 to make use of such facilities.

Dr Zweli Mkhize says the rise of COVID-19 numbers is due to non-compliance to lockdown regulations: 

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