The minister told MPs that the government has no desire to control people’s lives unnecessarily
Health minister Joe Phaahla has defended the draft regulations for the surveillance and control of notifiable medical conditions as the bare minimum required to keep the Covid-19 infection rate low.More than 150,000 submissions have been made so far to the department on the draft regulations and Phaahla announced on Thursday a seven-day extension of the period for public comment from April 16 to April 24.
Phaahla said there was still a need for public health measures as there was no reason to believe at this stage that the trend of increased Covid-19 infections would not continue, especially as SA entered the winter season. Even countries with a high level of vaccination had experienced a rise in infections of the omicron variant.
The draft regulations provide that a court order can be obtained to force a person to take a medical examination, be admitted to a health establishment or undergo mandatory isolation or quarantine when they are infected, suspected to be infected or have been in contact with an infected person. They also deal with contact tracing, the wearing of face masks, social distancing, and the control of funerals and public gatherings.
Freedom Front Plus MP Philip van Staden said the draft regulations were merely a transfer of power from the minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who was responsible for the regulations under the Disaster Management Act, to the minister of health.
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