While visiting home affairs offices in Pretoria on Monday to assess Covid-19 compliance, according to an SABC report, Motsoaledi said travellers who arrive in SA with doubtful certificates will be offered an antigen Covid-19 test.
“If you don’t have the 72-hours test certificate, you can be tested here and then. It’s a rapid test. It takes about 15 minutes. But we are not going to easily allow anybody just to come into the country without a Covid-19 certificate,” he said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US, antigen Covid-19 tests, also known as the diagnostic tests, have a rapid turnaround time, which is critical to identify severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and rapid implementation of infection prevention and control strategies.
The tests can also augment other testing efforts, especially in settings where the PCR testing capacity is limited or testing results are delayed.