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Government extends deadline for public consultations regarding new COVID-19 regulations

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The Health Department has extended the public participation process for revised regulations under the National Health Act.

The revised regulations aim to broaden the scope of the current list of notifiable medical conditions in order to accommodate future pandemics.

Currently, the 2017 regulations cover medical conditions like Cholera, Yellow Fever, Plague and Smallpox.

The upcoming health regulations are set to replace the lockdown regulations that had been in effect during the state of disaster.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the ending of the state of disaster on April 4.

The deadline now for the proposed regulations including the notifiable medical conditions has been extended from the 16th to the 24th of April.

The video below is the address by President Cyril Ramaphosa:

 

Health Minister Joe Phaahla says the aim of the regulations is to ensure that certain preventive measures against the pandemic continue despite the ending of the state of disaster.

“The significance of these regulations is really that we can be protected [and] that we don’t lose the investments that we have made in terms of the protection [against the virus]. The role of the border management versus port health.”

“Port health in terms of the new approach of the border management authority. The actual function at the border management will be under the border management authority but the regulations, [and] the policy will still come from the Department of Health,” explains Minister Phaahla.

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