https://www.engineeringnews.co.za
Africa|Health|Service|System|Testing
Africa|Health|Service|System|Testing
africa|health|service|system|testing

Solidarity Fund prioritises grants to increase Covid-19 testing

10th June 2020

By: Marleny Arnoldi

Deputy Editor Online

     

Font size: - +

The national Solidarity Fund has focused on granting funds for testing, in light of the rapid spread of Covid-19 infections as lockdown measures have eased in South Africa.

The fund has supported the National Health Laboratory Service with a grant of R250-million, which will assist in the procurement of agents to enable the testing of at least one-million more people.

The Solidarity Fund also supported the South African Medical Research Centre and a consortium of several universities with a grant of R88-million, which will be used to scale up testing in their virology laboratories. This is expected to add capacity for up to 12 000 additional tests to be conducted each day.

Additionally, the fund has supported pharmacy group Dischem and Global Health Innovations Laboratory with an initial grant of R20-million to roll out free testing at walk-in testing facilities for those who are not on medical aid and cannot afford to do a test.

This service is targeted at communities that are underserved and should add an additional 33 000 tests to total testing numbers.

The fund comments in a statement that widespread Covid-19 testing not only helps provide individuals with valuable information to assist them to better manage their own health, but also assists epidemiologists to better identify positive cases, track and trace potential contacts to further slow transmission of the virus.

In turn, this helps to protect the public health system, frontline healthcare workers and it assists the health authorities to identify potential hotspots to manage the impact of the pandemic.

The increased testing also provides valuable data to help determine whether containment measures are working.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

Showroom

Schauenburg SmartMine IoT
Schauenburg SmartMine IoT

SmartMine IoT has been developed with the mining industry in mind, to provides our customers with powerful business intelligence and data modelling...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Showroom image
Alcohol Breathalysers

Supplier & Distributor of the Widest Range of Accurate & Easy-to-Use Alcohol Breathalysers

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.073 0.128s - 166pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now