Mkhize: Supply of fast COVID-19 test kits slowed by US export restrictions

South Africa’s urgent need for lightning-fast COVID-19 testing kits — better known as GeneXpert diagnostics — has been hampered by export restrictions and production backlogs.

Addressing parliament’s portfolio committee, via digital conference on Monday morning, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize answered several pertinent questions pertaining to the COVID-19 outbreak and government’s preventative measures.

Mkhize noted that swift tracing and testing protocols remained vital to government’s overall strategy. While the health department, in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), has managed to dramatically increase South Africa’s testing capacity over the past month, much more needs to be done in order to effectively flatten the curve ahead of September’s peak.

Cuban doctors arrive in SA to help fight COVID-19

Mkhize’s parliamentary address came just hours a team of more than 200 Cuban doctors touched down at Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria. The healthcare professionals, including experts in the fields of epidemiology, biostatistics, and public health, have been called into assist with South Africa’s fight against COVID-19. This foreign aid is fundamentally aimed at bolstering the country’s healthcare response and lightening the load on local resources, which includes the call for quicker testing capabilities.

To date, South Africa has conducted 168 643 tests since the virus was first reported on home soil back in early March 2020. While the country’s current daily testing capacity exceeds 7 000, it is still far off the target prescribed by government’s mass-testing approach.

In order to acquire accurate data, which will provide a more reliable overview of the local outbreak, Mkhize has noted that testing capacity would need to be tripled by the first week in May.

Lengthy turnaround puts pressure on testing capacity

According to the NICD, the turnaround time for test results varies according to the processes which were followed. Depending on the type of test performed, and the seriousness of the condition, results, from the time samples are sent to the lab, could take anywhere between 24 hours to a week to finalise. The NICD advises:

“The turn-around time for testing specimens varies from laboratory to laboratory. In general, you should expect to receive your results within a few days.”

The lengthy turnaround time and subsequent laboratory backlogs remain the steepest hurdles in government’s path to an increased testing capacity.

The procurement of GeneXpert testing kits

Mkhize has, however, noted South Africa’s procurement of fast testing kits; ones which are touted to produce results in under an hour. The GeneXpert, developed by American company, Cepheid, is considered one of the world’s fastest COVID-19 testing applications.

While government’s plan to introduce thousands of GeneXpert devices is expected to dramatically improve turnaround time and decrease the strain on laboratories, the procurement process has been marred by export inconsistencies and over-demand. Mkhize elaborated on the process:

“We’ve recently started using the GeneXpert equipment. The GeneXpert can be quicker but the challenge here [is that] we have a limitation in the number of kits. We’ve received ten thousand kits; those kits, we’ve moved a lot of them to Cape Town, to the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Bloemfontein.”

SA looks to Swedish suppliers after US halts exports

Mkhize added that government was awaiting another delivery of 15 000 GeneXpert kits which would significantly increase the country’s testing capabilities. Mkhize explained that this order has, however, been hit by a series of hiccups:

“The GeneXpert kits are produced in the US [and] since the US has put a restriction on [the kits] being exported… the other company [which produces the kits] is operating out of Sweden and they have got some challenges which they have reported to us. We hope that they will get over those challenges; they have promised that they will be increasing their supply to us.”

The health minister noted that the entire African continent was actively looking to procure the GeneXpert kits. This, in turn, has created a demand which far exceeds to the supplier’s capacity. Mkhize added that clarity regarding the supply was expected later in the week.