The government of South Africa makes a major shift in handling Covid, with a decision unprecedented since the pandemic began. The executive of the African state has listened to the advice of scientists and has decided to stop the search for contacts of the positives to the virus with immediate effect, except in cases where infections are highlighted in closed environments such as prisons, homes of rest and centers for children. The Department of Health released new contact tracing, quarantine and isolation protocols on Thursday evening.
The Omicron variant has changed the scenarios on Covid and a high number of asymptomatic cases are reported, with only a small fraction of the infections being later confirmed through laboratory tests. The government has ruled that all close contacts of a positive should not have the mandatory swab unless they have started showing symptoms. All quarantines must end with immediate effect. You will remain in isolation only if you have tested positive, staying away from social life for 10 days. Employers, on the other hand, are required to consider the person’s state of health before calling him or her back to work, even if solitary confinement has ended. Once the mandatory isolation period is complete, no further tests are needed for return to life.
A revolution in full style after these expert indications contained in a note addressed to Health Minister Joe Phaahla: “The proportion of people with immunity to Covid-19 has increased substantially, exceeding 60-80% in various serosonditions. Contact quarantine is no longer feasible in the current social and economic climate. We have learned more about how Covid-19 spreads and now we also have to deal with variants whose epidemiology differs from that of the ancestral strains of SARS-CoV-2 seen in 2020 ”.
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