A new index has been created to provide an empirical basis for ranking the physical-interaction dimension of the Covid-19 transmission risk for various occupations in South Africa – a tool that could help guide policymakers in evaluating which sectors place workers at a higher or lower risk of contracting the virus as lockdown measures are eased. Developed by academics at the University of Cape Town’s Development Policy Research Unit the Physical Interaction Index takes account of the role that human proximity and contact plays in the spread of Covid-19 and uses pre-pandemic data to measure that risk across various occupations.
