Ramaphosa assesses Western Cape's Covid-19 response

President Cyril Ramaphosa is on Friday visiting the Western Cape where he will assess the province's Covid-19 response.

The Western Cape is currently the epicentre of the virus with cases being a little over 27,000.

Earlier in the week premier Alan Winde announced that Western Cape residents who are younger than 55, don't have a chronic illness and live in Cape Town, won't be tested for Covid-19 - even if they develop symptoms.

This as the Western Cape government tightens its testing regulations because of a shortage of testing kits.

Winde said a decision had to be made after the backlog of tests in the public sector grew to about 27,000 for the Western Cape alone. Winde said the move was to save lives.

Currently the waiting list for tests around the country was about 100,000, with people waiting 7-12 days for their results.

“The Western Cape government has taken the important decision to test only those who are at highest risk and most vulnerable in the Cape Town metropolitan area,” he said.