South Africa’s Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola has appointed former Constitutional Court judge Catherine O’Regan as the country’s coronavirus judge-designate whose role will be to oversee the database of people infected with the disease, APA has learnt.
Announcing this on Saturday, Lamola said the appointment was aimed at having someone to legally track contacts of those who tested positive for COVID-19 in the country.
The government is legally required to provide weekly reports to the former Constitutional Court judge which should include the particulars of COVID-19 patients who have been traced using cell phone data, the minister said.
In this regard, O’Regan’s role “will be to ensure that the privacy and personal information of the COVID-19 patients is protected as government works around the clock to contain the spread of the deadly global pandemic,” the minister said, adding that the information would be for inclusion in the country’s COVID-19 Tracing Database.
“I am grateful to Justice O’Regan for availing herself for this role so as to ensure that while we fight COVID-19 people’s right to privacy is not compromised,” Lamola said.
South Africa had, as of Saturday, 1,585 coronavirus cases and seven deaths from the pandemic as it enters its second week of a 21-day nationwide lockdown designed to stop COVID-19 in its track.
NM/jn/APA