South Africa on Wednesday reintroduced contact tracing and quarantine requirements
Johannesburg:
South Africa on Wednesday reintroduced contact tracing and quarantine requirements in certain cases amid an increase in Covid-19 cases, less than a week after it announced its elimination. they.
The Department of Health issued a circular on December 23 instructing all provincial authorities to stop contact tracing and certain quarantine conditions.
The department said it has received an inundation of media, stakeholders, and questions and comments from the public since the release of the revised Contact Tracing, Quarantine and Methodology Protocols. cup issued by the Ministry.
The decision is then that asymptomatic people who have been exposed to a Covid-19 case no longer need to be isolated, but should monitor any symptoms for 5 to 7 days and avoid attending gatherings. crowded.
It also requires that only people who develop symptoms be tested, while contact tracing efforts will be halted except for cluster outbreaks.
“In accordance with the principles of transparency and openness, the department has decided to pause the implementation of the revised policy changes, while reviewing all additional comments and input received,” the health department said. said.
“This means that the status quo remains and all previous applicable regulations regarding contact tracing, quarantine and isolation still apply,” it said in a statement.
The ministry said the original rationale for the revision was based on a number of scientific factors, including the fact that most people had been vaccinated with at least one dose of the vaccine and had developed some degree of immunity. .
It added that this contributed to the current low hospitalization rate and high recovery rate in the fourth wave, largely due to the Omicron variant.
Another reason cited is that many people do not show any symptoms, and only a small percentage of them are diagnosed.
There are also concerns about people without symptoms losing income during home isolation and children losing valuable time at school under similar conditions.
“A revised circular will be re-issued after all additional inputs and comments have been considered,” the ministry said in apologizing for any confusion and inconvenience. caused by previous decisions.
Meanwhile, hundreds of South Africans who had planned to visit Mauritius in early January went up in smoke after the island nation announced it would extend a travel ban for the entire month of January for nine southern African states. .
“Any person who has been present in the Republic of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia within 14 days prior to the date of arrival in Mauritius will not be allowed to enter or transit through the Government of Mauritius. said in a statement.
South African Airways, the most popular airline for the four-hour flight to the resort island, said it would cancel all flights to and from Mauritius in January.
The airline said it will allow customers to rebook their flights to a date after February 1 at no additional cost.
