Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said during a virtual press briefing on Thursday that the national backlog for Covid-19 testing in South Africa was, to his knowledge, 100 000 tests. 

As of Wednesday, the total number of tests conducted in private and public laboratories in the country was 634 996. 

Winde outlined to reporters a change in the provincial testing strategy since last week, from actively testing as many potential contacts of a confirmed case as possible to reserving tests for patients in hospitals. 

INFOGRAPHICS | Sharp drop in Covid-19 testing because of test kit shortage

"As of last week, we had to change that approach…we have got to reserve tests for in our hospitals, for our healthcare professionals, but also to make a decision in a hospital as to whether [a] person must go to the Covid-19 ward or perhaps [just] get treatment for regular flu," Winde said. 

Pressure

"That's really important, with testing under such severe pressure at the moment, I think [we are] 100 000 tests behind in the backlog at the moment in South Africa," he said. 

Spokesperson for the national health department Popo Maja said he would check the figure before responding to Winde's comments.

This is a developing story.