Covid-19

CORONAVIRUS

SA could start manufacturing reagents for Covid-19 tests in ‘weeks’

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - MARCH 19: A general view of Lancet Laboratory on March 19, 2020 in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is reported the pathology services company has seen the spike in requests for the COVID-19 tests after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the pandemic a National State of Disaster. (Photo: Gallo Images/Fani Mahuntsi)

Informal settlement de-densification, a mass rollout of water tanks, an increase in social services and local manufacturing of the chemical reagents needed for Covid-19 tests – these are some of the plans the government has to protect SA’s most vulnerable from the Covid-19 outbreak and the effects of the lockdown.

The South African government is working with the institutions to start locally producing the reagents needed for Covid-19 tests, Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande announced on Tuesday.

Nzimande said his department was in discussion with three institutions – Biovac, the Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research and Afrigen Bio – to repurpose facilities and labs to start producing the reagents locally.

The global Covid-19 pandemic has caused a shortage of reagents and South Africa currently relies on imports. The government plans to significantly increase Covid-19 testing during the 21-day lockdown, announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday evening.

“It has become very urgent to locally manufacture reagents for testing kits. These are currently being imported and the lockdown may threaten access to supply,” said Nzimande.

“Once we are able to establish how long the supplies will run out that we currently have, we can be able to work with the various partners to start in a matter of weeks.”

He added: “Discussions are on to facilitate accreditation of some of the facilities to produce these reagents so that we do not run out of them in order to be able to have effective testing kits. This afternoon, the team will be discussing concretely the budgetary requirements moving forward.”

Nzimande was speaking alongside members of Cabinet’s social cluster on how efforts to limit the spread of Covid-19 will be implemented. They also address concerns about how the marginalised will be affected by the lockdown.

Members of the public have been urged to wash their hands regularly, but water supply is limited, or non-existent in many communities across the country, due to drought or poor service delivery.

Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said there would be a mass rollout of water tanks and tankers to water-scarce communities.

“We are determined to make sure that we are providing our people with decent sanitation, safe water and we’ll have a strong injection of the latest science and technological solutions that we have available to us,” she said at the briefing held at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in Tshwane.

Water facilities will be provided at 2,901 sites in 2,000 communities across the country, Sisulu said. Tanks and washbasins will be installed in communities, mostly in Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Free State and Northern Cape, and elderly people in at-risk rural areas will get buckets and sanitation materials, donated by the private sector.

“Basically, we are aiming to buy out all the tanks there are in the country so we would like to send out a message to say to anybody who is producing, or selling them, please stop. We would like to take all of them because we need them much more than any individual might need them because of the spread and the number of areas that we have to cover,” said Sisulu.

She said the government had largely completed the procurement process and believed all communities with a dire need for water should be supplied within a week. She encouraged people in areas with water shortages to call her office’s hotline on 0800200200.

Sisulu also touched on the potential spread of Covid-19 in densely populated informal settlements and said her department would work to improve sanitation and de-densify 29 priority areas located in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Eastern Cape.

“The biggest challenge will be when this virus gets into our densely populated areas and these are the informal settlements. How are we going to be able to trace this and how are we going to be able to avoid the quick spread of the virus?” she asked.

The minister said she was in consultation with the ministers of land and public works, and had requested them to release land to help reduce overcrowding in informal settlements, which the government has long struggled with.

“We would like to appeal to the people who live in these densely populated areas to allow us to work with them to try to de-densify these areas,” she pleaded, promising more details on the plan soon.

The impending lockdown has raised concerns about the wellbeing of those relying on social services.

“All the social services that we provide to the vulnerable, in particular, that cannot stop,” said Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu.

Sassa will continue to pay grants and the elderly as well as those with disabilities will be able to access their payments from 30 March. Sassa offices will be closed during the lockdown and it will not accept new grant applications. Zulu encouraged Sassa beneficiaries with enquiries to call 0800601011.

“All shelters will remain functional and we will ensure that food is provided to old age homes, shelters, child and youth care centres, rehabilitation centres. However, no visitations will be allowed, in line with the regulations,” she said.

Two-hundred-and-thirty-five community nutrition centres and food banks will be operational, and food will be delivered to the homes of those in need, said Zulu. She thanked non-profit organisations for assisting with the food drive and said social service professionals, and volunteers who are being recruited to help would receive the necessary protective equipment.

Ramaphosa said homeless people would be located in temporary shelters during the lockdown and Zulu said provincial, and local governments are required to identify sites.

“The places where we keep them might not necessarily be perfect,” she said, calling on social workers to assist the homeless during the lockdown and noting that the government’s efforts remain a work in progress. DM

Gallery

"Information pertaining to Covid-19, vaccines, how to control the spread of the virus and potential treatments is ever-changing. Under the South African Disaster Management Act Regulation 11(5)(c) it is prohibited to publish information through any medium with the intention to deceive people on government measures to address COVID-19. We are therefore disabling the comment section on this article in order to protect both the commenting member and ourselves from potential liability. Should you have additional information that you think we should know, please email [email protected]"

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