Africa CDC Guidance on Contact Tracing for the COVID-19 Pandemic


June 3, 2020

In this guideline, specifically prepared for COVID-19 pandemic, Africa CDC advises Member States to use the characteristics of the epidemic in their country to decide when and how to do contact tracing. Namely, in Epidemic Phase 1-2 where imported cases and cases in known transmission chains the guidance is to trace all contacts. In Epidemic Phase 3-4 where community transmission is prevailing, contact tracing is not recommended in all outbreak areas. The guideline further stresses to test only contacts for SARS-CoV2 if they are symptomatic, and contacts without symptoms should not be tested.