With reference to President Ramaphosa’s announcement of the enhanced level 3 regulations on 12 July which further eased restrictions on economic activities, Business for South Africa (B4SA) wishes to remind members that the threat for infections to increase exponentially remains. The goal is to accelerate the opening of the economy in a way that manages the associated health risks, preserves lives and minimises the long-term economic impact.
Contact tracing is the process of identifying individuals who have come into contact with COVID-19 positive individuals and deploying measures to reduce the spread of infections. Adoption of this practice is critical for slowing the spread of the virus and to enable quick identification of individuals to prevent further exposure.
The South African Government is considering the implementation of a national contact tracing and tracking solution and the RMI, through B4SA, supports this initiative.
Given the threat of an exponential increase in infections, B4SA recommends that corporate businesses urgently establish their own company-specific contact tracing protocols. These tools will contribute to the country’s overall response to COVID-19 and provide the following benefits:
- Early detection of symptoms;
- Effective tracing of close contacts and selectively isolating those exposed to minimise business impact and ensure business operations continuity;
- Potentially reduce the number of tests required. This will reduce the workload on health workers and associated costs, e.g. cost for quarantine facilities;
- Single view of employee health.
While either a manual or digital option of contact tracing can be adopted, the RMI and B4SA recommends the adoption of a digital option where possible. Digital solutions provide a more accurate and real-time record of all close contact employees.
We have identified several digital contact tracing solutions and should your business decide to adopt such a solution, you can directly contact service providers who have created digital corporate contact tracing solutions that are ready for deployment.
We appreciate your continued support of the nation’s efforts in the battle against COVID-19.
For more information, questions and answers, please go to https://www.businessforsa.org/business-for-south-africa-calls-on-business-community-to-adopt-contact-tracing/
