File: A health worker processes COVID-19 lateral flow tests. AFP/Adrian Dennis
JOHANNESBURG - The Health Department is looking into the technical problem experienced by the NICD when capturing COVID-19 data recently.
The NICD says labs experienced an IT system glitch which caused a delay in test results.
Half of the 37,000 new cases reported on Sunday were from delayed results.
Health Minister Joe Phaahla said this is worrying but that his department is working with the NICD to prevent a reoccurrence.
"They have to reconcile the numbers for different labs. They have been doing well. The was just a hiccup over the last few days, they said there were problems with the IT system that’s why they had some confusing numbers, a problem with reconciliation of numbers," he said.
"We are following up to make sure that we can be confident with the data they giving us.
"It is worrying for a body like that which we rely on, on a daily basis to mix up numbers. They have assured us that the matter is being corrected. But for the department we rely on the numbers that they give us daily.
"I can confirm that we are following up to make sure that the IT hiccup should be corrected for good."
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— NICD (@nicd_sa) December 13, 2021
The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) released a statement earlier today confirming that the challenges experienced with the upgrade of the NHLS IT systems have now been resolved.
