The Union health ministry revised its guidelines for home isolation for mild or asymptomatic cases and reduced the isolation to seven days from testing positive. It, however, added that the isolation should end in a week if only there is no fever for three successive days.
The ministry also stated there is no need for re-testing after the home isolation period is over. Earlier, the duration of home isolation ended after 10 days of onset of symptoms.
The US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had also halved the isolation period for asymptomatic infected individuals from 10 to 5 days. It added that isolation should only end if a person has been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications and if other symptoms are resolving.
India Revises Guidelines
According to Health Ministry’s revised guidelines patients under home isolation will stand discharged and end isolation after at least seven days from testing positive and no fever for three successive days, but they shall continue wearing masks.
Asymptomatic contacts of infected individuals need not undergo Covid test and monitor health in home quarantine, the guidelines stated.
Patients suffering from immune-compromised status (HIV, transplant recipients, cancer therapy) are not recommended for home isolation and shall only be allowed home isolation after proper evaluation by the treating medical officer, they said. It added that home isolation is not recommended for the immunocompromised.
Reasons for Cutting Isolation Time
The cutting of isolation in India and US comes as the CDC officials said the studies suggest that people with the coronavirus are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop.
It said that more than 100 studies from 17 countries indicate that most transmission happens early in an infection.
The Omicron wave of Covid-19 which is driving the massive surge of infections in India and around the world is highly transmissible but considered milder than the delta variant. Studies have also shown that recovery in cases of Omicron is faster with lesser shedding of viral load, a report in The Indian Express said.
No Need for Post-Isolation Test?
According to the CDC, Covid-19 tests can still show positive results long after someone stops being contagious, and that a negative at-home test may not necessarily indicate there is no threat. Therefore, it added that it is recommending that people wear masks everywhere for the five days after isolation ends.
Dr Shashank Joshi, member of Maharashtra Covid-19 task force told The Indian Express said that the clinical picture of Omicron suggests that the new variant is mild and self-limiting. “CDC has halved the isolation protocol without a test and recommended double masking. Our protocol is along similar lines,” he reportedly said drawing a parallel with the American guidelines.
Other Countries Follow
Germany and Portugal are considering shortening self-isolation periods, while the Czech government has decided to cut isolation restrictions from 14 to five days. Greece is the first country in Europe to announce an all-time low of five days’ quarantine for infected.
UK had already moved to a seven-day isolation period for infected people just before Christmas.
Meanwhile, India on Thursday saw the biggest single-day jump of 495 Omicron cases, taking the total number of infections of the new variant of coronavirus to 2,630, according to Union health ministry data.
Of the total cases, Maharashtra has the maximum at 797, followed by Delhi at 465, Rajasthan 236, Kerala 234, Karnataka 226, Gujarat 204 and Tamil Nadu 121.
Meanwhile, 90,928 new coronavirus infections were reported, the highest in over 200 days, taking India’s caseload to 3,51,09,286, the data stated. The death toll climbed to 4,82,876 with 325 fatalities, it said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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