Peter van Heusden
On 14 December 2020 the Western Cape health department restricted access to Covid-19 testing for the second time in the year, excluding most of those under 45 and all of those without symptoms from access to public-sector testing (see here).
The reason is that the public-sector testing system was fast becoming overwhelmed, not just in the Western Cape but also in other provinces now facing a surge in cases.
For example, in the Eastern Cape public pathology system, the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), it took on average two days to get a Covid-19 test result at the end October. By the end of November it was taking four days. Of the 28 labs in the NHLS system, only one had a turnaround time of more than two days at the end of October. By the end of November 13 of the labs were taking more than two days to get a test result back.