Pharmaceutical retailer Dis-Chem, along with a couple of partners, is offering free Covid-19 testing to South Africans in need.

There is currently a national backlog of Covid-19 testing, and as a result, the Western Cape government has now decided not to test people aged 55 or younger in the Cape Town metro if they have no underlying conditions.

The retailer Dis-Chem says it has partnered with the Solidarity Fund to offer the testing.

You first have to apply for the test via one of these avenues:

To qualify, applicants can't be a member of a medical scheme nor be employed. Other criteria may include whether the person is a pensioner, disabled or orphaned.

Dis-Chem will inform you via SMS and send you a voucher to redeem for testing purposes, as well as directions to your nearest Dis-Chem testing site.

According to Dis-Chem, the results should be available in three to five days.

In April, Dis-Chem launched drive-through Covid-19 testing sites in shopping centre parking lots in Gauteng. It has now conducted 15,000 tests at 22 sites.  

The pharmaceutical retailer has come under fire for its conduct during the coronavirus crisis. 

The Competition Commission has referred Dis-Chem to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution for excessive pricing of face masks. The company - which was allowed to trade throughout lockdown - has also refused to pay full rent to its landlords.