BUSINESS FOR SOUTH AFRICA CALLS ON BUSINESS COMMUNITY TO ADOPT CONTACT TRACING
Business for South Africa (B4SA), in referring to President Ramaphosa’s announcement of the enhanced level 3 regulations last month, and which further eased restrictions on economic activities, wishes to remind members that the threat remains for infections to increase exponentially. Our goal remains 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 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 B4SA supports this initiative.
Given the threat of an exponential increase in infections, B4SA recommends that corporates 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 and both reduce the workload on health workers and associated costs, e.g. cost for quarantine facilities; and
- Single view of employee health
While both a manual or digital option of contact tracing can be adopted, 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.
B4SA has identified several digital contact tracing solutions and should your business decide to adopt such a solution, companies can directly contact service providers who have created digital corporate contact tracing solutions that are ready for deployment (see Figure 2 in the link below).
We appreciate your continued support of the nation’s efforts in the battle against COVID-19.
For more information and a Q&A, please go to https://www.businessforsa.org/business-for-south-africa-calls-on-business-community-to-adopt-contact-tracing/
or contact the B4SA Innovation Stream Digital Lead: Natalie Naidoo: [email protected]
WEBCAST LINK: BUSINESS FOR SOUTH AFRICA
Delivering an accelerated economic recovery strategy
Business for South Africa, the alliance of volunteer resources from across the South African business community, has launched its proposed Economic Recovery Strategy: “A New Inclusive Economic Future for South Africa”.
To listen to the media webcast presentation, please go to: B4SA Media Webcast Economic Recovery Strategy
The COVID-19 crisis represents an opportunity for all stakeholders to consider what is required for the country to move ahead successfully and with conviction. This will require ruthless prioritisation and difficult decisions. A new social and economic compact must be forged in parallel, and a cohesive plan will need to be jointly developed and implemented by government, business and other social partners. Committed leadership is needed to drive decisions to conclusion with speed.
The B4SA ACCELRATED ECONOMIC RECOVERY STRATEGY is being put forward as the basis for an intensive process of engagement, which we hope will lead to increased trust between societal stakeholders, and to a new form of partnership between government and business in pursuit of shared challenges.
To access the full B4SA Accelerated Economic Recovery Strategy please go to: https://www.businessforsa.org/economic/economic-relief-measures/
To listen to the media webcast presentation, please go to
B4SA Media Webcast Economic Recovery Strategy
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OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS AND GUIDELINES ON COVID-19
All official government regulations and guidelines are available at https://www.gov.za/coronavirus/guidelines
OFFICIAL RESOURCES:
NICD website: http://www.nicd.ac.za
COVID-19 information website: https://sacoronavirus.co.za
Coronavirus 24-hour Hotline: 0800 029 999
Coronavirus WhatsApp: 060 012 3456
Business for South Africa fully supports the decisive action taken by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the government to help mitigate the health, labour market and economic impacts of the coronavirus. As organised business, we are actively collaborating with government to use business resources and capacity to support public sector initiatives.
We have mobilised volunteer resources from across South Africa business bodies and organisations, member companies large and small, professional services firms as well as communication specialists, to form focused working groups that are driving a coordinated and proactive programme to mitigate the economic, social and health impacts of COVID-19 on South Africa.
Author: Derrick Markotter
RCCI Webmaster Derrick runs a boutique web marketing agency, IdealMedia Marketing.