More than 500 teams of health workers will descend on the province in the coming weeks as government ramps up its mass Covoid-19 screening and testing efforts.

The programme was launched by MEC for Public Works and Human Settlements, Peggy Nkonyeni, in her capacity as Ilembe district head for Operation Sukuma Sakhe, at Shaka’s Head last Thursday.

Several hotspots across the region, using a social vulnerability index to target the most vulnerable communities, have been identified as part of the Health department’s mass home screening and testing programme.

Authorities hope by the time the lockdown is lifted they will have screened and tested many people in these areas.

KZN has the third-highest number of deaths from Covid-19 across the country.

The roll-out of the screening and testing programme is part of government’s response to curbing the spread of the virus. The programme also aims to debunk the myths and lies circulating about the community screening and testing programme.

Nkonyeni urged communities to embrace the programme and support the health workers visiting their homes who will screen people using a questionnaire with 27 questions – available in English and Zulu.

The screening is to establish whether people exhibit coronavirus symptoms. Those who exhibit symptoms and meet the case definition will then be tested for the virus.

On Saturday evening health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said during an online press briefing that more than 7 000 people had been tested over the preceding 24 hours.

In the weeks before the lockdown the tests conducted varied from 1 500 to 3 000 per day. Around 108 000 people have been tested in South Africa.

KZN has been screening about 40 000 people a day, exceeding the target of 13 000, and testing 30 to 100 people a day, increased to 300 a day since before community testing was rolled out on April 16.

KZN health department spokesperson Ntokoza Maphiza said that while more testing was possible, they are mindful of not wanting to waste testing resources unnecessarily, but follow protocol by focusing on hotspots and tracing known positive cases.

The department will rely on community healthcare workers to assist with tracking and tracing potential Covid-19 cases.

The community screening programme will increase testing and find more positive cases because healthcare workers will be going into communities and finding people who would not normally have presented themselves to a hospital until symptoms became far more severe.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the extent of Covid-19 testing being conducted will likely be an important factor in the decision to extend South Africa’s current lockdown or not.

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