The City of Cape Town will be rolling out testing booths for COVID-19 at 17 identified clinics across the city.

The locations are: Albow Gardens, Langa, Bloekombos, Wallacedene, Town Two, Doctor Ivan Toms, Ikhwezi, Kuyasa CDC, Manenberg, Delft South, St. Vincent, Gugulethu, Weltevreden Valley, Masiphumelele, Seawinds, Phumlani and Tafelsig.

The booths will aid efforts to increase the number of tests of vulnerable individuals who are at risk of more severe illness. It will also protect front-line healthcare workers.

The City identified the challenges relating to constraints around personal protective equipment (PPE) availability, and in addition, wanted to increase the number of patients tested for COVID-19.

The testing booths are designed for a single operator who will not need to don PPE whilst testing, although a surgical mask is still recommended.

The tester will use special external glove extensions to reach out and perform naso-pharyngeal swabs without any major difficulties. The external gloves are cleaned and disinfected and the next client is tested.