South Africa Drops Self-Isolation for Asymptomatic Covid Cases
- Policy change at odds with neighbors, main trading partners
- Blood surveys show 60% to 80% of South Africans have had Covid
A sign for Covid-19 PCR testing inside the departures terminal at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/BloombergSouth Africa dropped a requirement for people who test positive for Covid-19 but have no symptoms to self isolate, a marked turnaround from its initial approach to the virus when it implemented one of the world’s strictest lockdowns.
The move, announced after a special Cabinet meeting on Monday, puts it at odds with its neighbors and main trading partners, including the U.K., traditionally South Africa’s biggest source of foreign tourists. The government also cut the isolation period for those infected with symptomatic Covid-19 to seven days from 10, and will no longer require contacts of those infected to isolate.