On December 23, The National Department of Health announced that all COVID-19 contact tracing would be stopped with immediate effect in a formal circular to the heads of provincial health departments, which was made public the next day.
This meant that restrictions on asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus would be averted in light of contact tracing. The National Department of Health had described the isolation calls as “costly to essential services and society as many people stay away from their work and thus lose their income and children miss on their schooling,” as Business Insider confers.
However, the National Department of Health has recently recalled its revised protocols after only a few days of the revision being in place.
“Thus, in line with the principles of transparency and openness, the department has decided to put the implementation of the revised policy changes on hold while taking all additional comments and inputs received into consideration,” the Health Department expressed in a statement as per IOL.
As a result of the backflip reinstatement of the national contact tracing and isolation protocols, South Africans are once again required to self-isolate if they have been in contact with someone who later tests positive for the virus, regardless of whether they show symptoms or not.
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