Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
contact tracinglatest news & developments
South Africa has been drawn into a multi-country public health response after a cluster of illnesses and three deaths linked to an international cruise ship, with one passenger dying locally and another in critical condition in a Sandton hospital, the department of health confirmed.
ASCENSION ISLAND

Passenger dies in SA as rare virus linked to international cruise ship outbreak

Health officials are monitoring possible exposures in Gauteng after passengers linked to a deadly cruise ship outbreak passed through South Africa, with one patient in critical…

  • Hasina Kathrada
2 min read
Proactive: Teachers and support staff queue for the Covid-19 vaccination at Universitas Hospital in Bloemfontein in the face of the more transmittable Delta variant. (Mlungisi Louw/Gallo Images/Volksblad)
ANGELIQUE COETZEE

Health department scraps quarantine, isolation requirements for asymptomatic Covid-19 contacts

The government has also started administering J&J booster shots from 24 December and will roll out Pfizer boosters from 28 December

  • Marcia Zali
2 min read
CONTACT TRACING

Advisors suggest end to quarantine of asymptomatic Covid-19 contacts

According to the ministerial advisory committee, the quarantine period for “high-risk contacts” of Covid-19 patients is not an effective measure for containing the spread of the…

  • Marcia Zali
1 min read
CONTACT TRACING

Tracking, tracing and transparency

Governments are processing tons of personal information to limit the spread of Covid-19. They must ensure this does not cost us our privacy

  • Robyn Pasensie
  • Isäm Bartlett
6 min read
Significant public attention in relation to Covid-19 has focused on the economic dimensions of the virus resulting in joblessness and deprivation on a monumental scale.
9 11

Censorship, surveillance could be the biggest rights challenges post Covid-19

The impacts of these infringements could last well beyond the life of the Covid-19 pandemic

  • Mandeep Tiwana
  • Marianna Belalba Barreto
4 min read
This pandemic will test our sanity. To maintain mental well-being we must allow ourselves to speak into our fears. It is okay to not be okay. (Eduardo Soteras/AFP via Getty Images)
BORIS JOHNSON

The ethics of Covid-19 status disclosure: To tell or not to tell?

The trick is to find the balance between people’s right to privacy and the need for contact tracing to limit the spread of the disease

  • Akpabio Akpabio
  • Utibe Effiong
  • Ido Aniekan
3 min read