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Saturday, August 1, 2026

READ: Quarantine and contact tracing scrapped, J&J boosters now available

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The Department of Health says its latest mitigation strategy is the only viable way to curb transmission of Covid-19, especially to deal with the Omicron variant.

The department announced that with immediate effect contact tracing and quarantine isn’t necessary.

This excludes where infections are picked up in congregate settings and cluster outbreak situations.

Asymptomatic individuals will also not have to isolate.

The read the new rules in full click HERE.

Meanwhile, eligible South Africans can get a second Covid-19 Johnson & Johnson booster shot from today. The Health Department yesterday approved the J&J vaccine as a booster shot.

From 28th December 2021 the National Vaccination Programme will provide Pfizer booster vaccinations to anyone who received their last dose at least 6 months since the second primary dose.

To read the full statement click HERE.

While SAHPRA approved a ‘mix and match’ approach to boosters, the Department says it will currently only allow homologous boosting. The full release is HERE.

Liesl Smit
Liesl Smit
Liesl is the Smile 90.4FM News Manager. She has been at Smile since 2016, with nearly 20 years experience in the radio industry, including reading news, field reporting and producing. In 2008 she won the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award, Western Cape region. liesl@smile904.fm

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