South Africa Ends Quarantine and Contact Tracing

South African government, supported by encouragement Data showing that infection with Omicron mutants is less serious, Removed quarantine restrictions for everyone except those with symptoms.

This includes allowing people who test positive but have no symptoms to get together with others as long as they wear a mask and social distance. Health officials explained that the variant is so prevalent that it is likely that infected people are interacting with others, and it no longer makes sense to isolate only those who have tested themselves. Did.

This move was yet another step towards slow acceptance that many countries around the world needed to find a way to live with Covid rather than avoid it. The new measures follow recommendations from the Commission of Experts calling for a focus on vaccination rather than contact tracing or quarantine.

Professor François Wenter, a researcher at the University of the Witwatersland, said: Former member of the Commission in Johannesburg.

The new protocol will come into effect soon, the Ministry of Health said in a notice to the local health director. The revision was based on data showing that immunity from previous infections could be as high as 80 percent. According to the South African government, this, coupled with the fact that vaccination rates for adults in the country have reached nearly 45%, keep hospitalization rates low.

In South Africa, quarantine measures are biased towards symptomatic cases, as the majority of cases are asymptomatic. This is especially true of the recent wave of infections caused by Omicron variants. During that time, the number of cases increased rapidly, but it was just over 5%. Leaded to hospitalization..

“Containment strategies are no longer appropriate — mitigation is the only viable strategy,” the notice said.

According to the ministry, the new regulations aim to benefit essential services. Since the beginning of the pandemic, one in five workers in the public health sector has been infected with the coronavirus, the Ministry of Health said this month.

Under the new guidance, people who test positive but are asymptomatic no longer need to be quarantined. People with mild symptoms such as fever, cough, loss of taste and smell should be quarantined for 8 days. It also eliminates the need to show a negative Covid-19 test before returning to work after quarantine.

“Most people walking around can be asymptomatic,” said Ramphelane Morewane, deputy deputy director of the Ministry of Health, who has a positive test but no symptoms to prevent the virus from being transmitted. You need to take precautions such as wearing a mask to get rid of it. ..

If a person has symptoms, a Covid-19 test is required. Anyone who comes into contact with a person who tested positive does not need to be quarantined, but instead should be “self-observed” for 5-7 days to avoid crowded rallies, the ministry said.

Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Booster Shots will be available from Tuesday to those who received their first dose at least 6 months ago or who are at high risk of becoming ill. South African authorities have also approved booster shots for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The unfolding of Johnson & Johnson’s shots follows local studies of its efficacy against breakthrough infections, including after detection of the Omicron variant. The study found that primarily healthcare workers received more than 230,000 boosts and that their protection against hospitalization was “at least as good as any other vaccine,” the Ministry of Health said.

South African health officials say the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should prioritize Covid vaccines other than Johnson & Johnson, with increasing evidence that shots can cause rare blood clotting disorders. He said he would not follow his recommendations.

South African health officials said the CDC’s warning was related to the “vaccine abundance” in the United States and announced a cautious response.

Professor Linda Gale Becker, one of the lead researchers in the study, said South Africa’s data show that “in low- and middle-income countries, this single-dose vaccine is very useful.”