Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2022 May;112(5b):366-370.
doi: 10.7196/SAMJ.2022.v112i5b.16072.

COVID-19 response in South African communities: Screening, testing, tracing and movement modelling

M Modisenyane  1 , L Madikezela  1 , S Mngemane  2 , O P Ramadan  3 , M Matlala  2 , K McCarthy  4 , N Govender  4 , T Nemungadi  1 , S P Silal  5   6
Affiliations
Case Reports

COVID-19 response in South African communities: Screening, testing, tracing and movement modelling

M Modisenyane et al. S Afr Med J. 2022 May.

Abstract

In South Africa (SA), the first case of COVID-19 was reported on 5 March 2020 from a traveller who had returned from Italy. Increases in COVID-19 cases and deaths necessitated the design and implementation of community screening, testing, and tracing as a control strategy. The SA government's plans to implement community-based screening, testing, contact tracing and movement modelling during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic presented both opportunities and challenges. In this article, we present our experiences, opportunities and lessons for community-based COVID-19 response, anchoring these efforts in the primary healthcare system.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest. None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Cumulative community screening by week.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Community screening case finding by week.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Case tracking and contacts tracing by province as at 31 May 2021. (Source: Provincial data as reported).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
SACMC Epidemic Explorer,[6] 21 May 2021. (SACMC = South African COVID-19 Modelling Consortium).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Guan W, Ni Z-Y, Hu Y, et al. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med. 2020 doi: 10.1016/j.jemermed.2020.04.004. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chan JF, Yuan S, Kok K-H, et al. A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: A study of a family cluster. Lancet. 2020;395(10223):514–523. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30154-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abdool Karim SS. The South African response to the pandemic. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:e95. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc2014960. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Moonasar D, Pillay A, Leonard E, et al. COVID-19: Lessons and experiences from South Africa’s first surge. BMJ Global Health. 2021;6:e004393. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004393. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Silal SP, Pulliam J, Meyer-Rath G, Nichols B, Jamieson L, Moultrie H. Estimating cases for COVID-19 in South Africa: Long term projections. South African COVID-19 Modelling Consortium; 2020. May 19, [accessed 29 March 2022]. https://www.nicd.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/SACovidModellingReport... .

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources