South Africa stops tracing and quarantining contacts of COVID-19 cases

SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa has stopped tracing and quarantining contacts of confirmed cases of COVID-19 cases with immediate effect, the health department has said, as the country tries to bounce back from economic downturn precipitated by the pandemic.

The Director-General of the Department of Health, Dr Sandile Buthelezi, confirmed on Thursday that contact tracing would be stopped with immediate effect except in congregate settings and cluster outbreak situations or self-contained settings.

“All contacts must continue with their normal duties with heightened monitoring (daily temperature testing, symptom screening). If they develop symptoms, then they should be tested and be managed according to the severity of the condition,” Buthelezi said.

The move comes after scientists and members of the medical fraternity had advised the government that the economic hub of Gauteng province had now passed the peak of a fourth wave.

The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 appears to be having a less severe impact than the earlier variants, a study in South Africa has found. This variant was first identified by South African scientists last month and it has sparked extensive research into its impact.

“In South Africa, Omicron is behaving in a way that is less severe,” said Cheryl Cohen, professor in epidemiology at the University of the Witwatersrand, who shared results of a research titled ‘Early Assessment of the Severity of the Omicron variant in South Africa’ in an online briefing by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. Some of the other reasons being cited for this decision is that the proportion of people with some immunity from infection and/or vaccination remained high.

– NEW INDIAN EXPRESS