South Africa completes virus tracking | GP

Sandil Puthelezi, the country’s chief health official, announced in a letter to South African provincial leaders that the government is now changing to a new strategy which means the focus is instead on restraint and measures such as protecting the mouth and social distancing.

And Bothelizi stresses in his letter that “the percentage of people with some immunity from infection or through vaccination is high.”

Exceptions are allowed

He writes: “Merge is no longer appropriate—reinforcement and restrictive measures are the only feasible strategy,” noting that the new strategy is particularly well-suited to “newer and more contagious variants such as Omicron.”

According to the message, all tracking of infections will cease with immediate effect.

However, exceptions will be allowed for closed environments such as prisons and schools, and for limited serious outbreaks, so-called gatherings.

Now, instead, South Africans are being urged to go and only test themselves if they develop symptoms. In addition, people should wear mouthguards and adhere to distance restrictions, that is, to avoid places and situations where there are a lot of people.

Fewer new cases of coronavirus

Anyone who has developed symptoms and tests positive must self-isolate for ten days. Then you can go back to work, for example – without the need for tests showing that you have recovered, according to new guidelines from the Ministry of Health.

In recent days, fewer and fewer cases of covid-19 have been found in South Africa. On Thursday last week, the number was about 27,000 new cases. On Tuesday this week, the corresponding figure was about 15,400 cases in the country, which together with Botswana were the first to discover the new omicron variant.

The reason for the decrease in the number of cases remains uncertain.