Relaxing Covid protocols could be ‘suicidal’, says expert

Any amendment or relaxation of Covid protocols could mean “economic suicide”. This was the view of Medicare24 chief executive Mike van Wyk in response to a leaked letter sent this week by the ministerial advisory committee (MAC) to Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla.

The letter suggested that current Covid protocols be re-evaluated. This as South Africa has just been taken off the United Kingdom’s travel red list and infections in the rest of the world continue to surge.

Van Wyk said: “By doing away with isolation and contact tracing it’s literally giving the virus free reign, and it is irresponsible.”

He added that it could be tantamount to a death sentence for millions of unvaccinated citizens and that a potentially accelerated rate of infection can also give rise to new variants or mutations of known strains.

“Just imagine, the rest of the world is taking preventative action and here, at the southern tip of Africa, we are reversing out of accepted protocols. The damage to the economy, to tourism, could be unimaginable,” said Van Wyk.

Meanwhile, department of health spokesperson Foster Mohale confirmed the correspondence was legitimate, but was not intended for public consumption.

“It is being considered by the department of health before being tabled before the [National Covid Command Council],” he said.

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In its letter, the MAC argued that current isolation and testing protocols tend to focus on exposure and symptomatic cases, demanding isolation and testing respectively.

The letter further suggested that milder cases and asymptomatic patients may have been unaware that they are Covidpositive.

It referred to a local study noting that as little as 16% of infections have been logged in South Africa and suggested that current contact tracing and isolation has proven to be ineffective in service of the country’s greater healthcare system.

A South African supplier of PCR and antigen tests said the MAC’s proposal was preposterous. His company also supplies the US, Europe and England.