Question NW637 to the Minister of Health
04 June 2020 - NW637
Mohlala, Ms MR to ask the Minister of Health
What measures has he put in place to track all persons who were tested positive for COVID-19, but who cannot be located or traced in each province?
Reply:
The scenario of unallocated COVID-19 positive patients was present at the beginning of the epidemic in the country and this was due to the submission of incomplete data by the Laboratories and the information systems processes the data.
The Department has implemented measures to improve the situation and the non-allocation of positive COVID-19 persons is the exception to the rule currently.
Measures include,
- The strengthening of the information systems for Notifiable Medical Conditions at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has resulted in the quality of reporting.
- The interactions with the Laboratories has improved the quality and completeness of the data submitted by the laboratories to the NICD.
- The COVID-19 tracing teams at a district level have been expanded. There are 8446 tracers that follow up with COVID-19 cases, and their contacts.
END.