Dr. Eileen de Villa is asking for an exemption to a section under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that would apply only to those living in the city.
Travelers infected with the new version have turned up in a cascading number of countries over the past few days, and new cases in Portugal and Scotland have raised fears that the variant may already be spreading locally.
The municipalities have contended that the decision to consolidate the dispatch services to save the government money could put the lives of people in their communities at risk.
Most of the new cases in South Africa have been among people in their 20s and 30s, and doctors note that age group generally has milder symptoms of COVID-19 in any case.
Dr. Paula Rochon at Toronto's Women's College Hospital said her research led her to realize the significant lack of information about older adults, especially women.
