South Africa Has Backlog of About 80,000 Covid-19 Tests

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa has about 80,000 unprocessed Covid-19 specimens as it battles with a shortage of testing kits, according to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.

“This challenge is caused by the limited availability of test kits globally,” Mkhize said in a statement. “We continue to engage suppliers all over the world and have issued licenses through South African Health Products Regulatory Authority as part of mitigating this capacity challenge.”

South Africa has recorded 27,403 coronavirus infections, 577 fatalities and 14,370 recoveries. At least 96,480 specimens hadn’t been processed by May 25, according to the health ministry. A total of 20,727 tests were conducted and processed Thursday, increasing the testing tally to 655,723.

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