South Africa’s PCR testing, which is no longer approved in Canada, is said to be accurate according to Prof. Anne von Gottberg of the National Institute For Communicable Diseases (NICD).
Recently, the Canadian government made a statement that they would not accept the outcomes of molecular COVID testing conducted in Nigeria and nine other African countries.
Travelers from South Africa must get a pre-departure negative COVID-19 molecular test result in a third country that is not Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, or South Africa.
Quarantine preparations for travelers from these countries will also be examined more closely, and travelers will be tightly monitored to ensure they follow quarantine rules.
However, according to Prof. Gottberg, South African PCR testing for COVID-19 is in perfect working order and is doing well in identifying the Omicron variant. Additionally, the incidents where travellers from South Africa, flying on KLM, produced negative PCR tests before the flight but then tested positive after the flight can be explained.
“The specimen may have been taken badly, so very little respiratory secretions were on the swab, and therefore no virus for detection. Or the individual was incubating the virus, and the two days reflected the time from undetectable virus to detectable virus,” she said.
So far, there are approximately 17 countries that prohibit travel to South Africa, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. However, these nations are obligated to let their citizens and residents return home after traveling.
