"Hebanna, Scrap Everything!": South Africans Want an End to All Covid19 Protocols, Contact Tracing Ended

• Starting Friday, 24 December all contract tracing in South Africa will come to an end except in cluster outbreaks
• The Department of Health says people who have come into close contact with an individual that tests positive for Covid19 do not need to self-isolate
• South Africans believe that this change in policy means that the government should consider scrapping all protocols

JOHANNESBURG - The Department of Health has accepted the recommendation to scrap contact tracing with immediate effect except for cluster outbreaks.

This also means that people will no longer be required to self-isolate for 10-days after coming into contact with such individuals, as long as they are also not infected.

People that do test positive for Covid19 will still have to quarantine for days, however, people that test positive but are showing no symptoms will not be required to self-isolate. The department has asked those individuals to self-observe for five to eight days, according to SABC News.

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After the period of isolation, people do not have to take another Covid19 test before heading back to work.

According to MyBroadband, Foster Mohale, the director-general of the Department of Health says the decision was made mainly because nearly 80% of the South African population has already been infected which means some form of immunity has been achieved.

Quarantining has had a negative impact on South Africa

Mohale says the time taken off because of self-isolation has been costly to essential services. He says it has resulted in income losses and children had to lose days of school.

South Africans share their thoughts on government's decision

Heading online, South Africans think it might be time to end all protocols related to Covid19. Some people are even questioning why they were implemented in the first place.

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Here are some of their comments:

@dramadelinquent said:

"Then remove the state of disaster thingy."

@Ckhola1745 said:

"This will be treated as normal flu, you get it and if not sick carry on working. If sick you take 2 or 3 days then back to work. Companies will have mandatory vaccination. We moving forward now. People being off work saying, "I was in contact" is over."

@N0NENTlTY_ said:

"This raises a lot of questions which very concerning ."

@BonganiDlomo21 said:

"Just stop everything and let's get back to our normal life! Masifa sife once."

@NgwanerTebza said:

"They should stop temperature screening also, which has also become irrelevant especially during the summer period."

@TmsTebogo said:

"Hebanna scrap everything!!! Let us live our live in peace."

SA's 3 major pathology groups agree to lower rapid tests to R150 or less

Briefly News previously reported that private pathology groups Pathcare, Lancet Laboratories and Ampath Laboratories, and the Competition Commission have reached a landmark agreement that will see the price of Covid-19 rapid antigen tests drop from R350 to R150 or less.

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The move to have the prices lowered follows a Department of Health complaint against service providers delivering Covid-19 rapid antigen tests in South Africa.

News24 reported that healthcare sector stakeholders have also moved to reduce the pricing of Covid-19 PCR tests to R500.

Source: Briefly News