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ARCHIVED - Spain makes changes to new 7-day quarantine rule
Covid patients with symptoms still have to isolate for ten days, according to Spanish Health Ministry
After the Ministry of Health in Spain announced on Wednesday December 29 that the quarantine for Covid patients would be reduced from ten to seven days, the Ministry has clarified that patients still displaying symptoms are excluded from the new rule.
There was some confusion about whether people with Covid symptoms, who are likely to still be contagious, could end their quarantine after seven days. The Health Minister, Carolina Darias, clarified on Thursday December 31 that the 7-day rule is only applicable to Covid-positive patients who don’t display any symptoms on days five, six and seven of their quarantine.
Patients with symptoms, such as fever, coughing and sore throats, must still self-isolate for ten days. The Ministry went on to state that, if after ten days, patients are still displaying signs of Covid, “it would be ideal” for them to not leave the house and risk infecting others, although there is currently no rule in place requiring people to isolate for longer than ten days.
The decision to reduce the quarantine was met with a mixed reaction, with some experts strongly disagreeing with the shorter isolation period. However, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, recently recommended an even shorter quarantine of five days, as they believe that the Omicron variant has a shorter incubation period than other strains.
Other European countries, such as Greece, jumped on the chance to reduce the isolation time and now have 5-day quarantines, but Spain opted for the middle ground and established a week-long quarantine. The president, Pedro Sanchez, stressed the need to find a balance between “public health, mental health and economic growth”, which explains his decision to not impose any nation-wide restrictions, other than mandatory masks, over the Christmas holidays.
In addition, the isolation period for unvaccinated close contacts of Covid patients has also been reduced to seven days. Vaccinated close contacts don’t have to isolate at all.
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