:format(jpg):focal(1275x858:1285x848):watermark(cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/ipmgroup/5IDEBLR7ERC5TMAPLOHS63MVNM.png,0,30,0)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/ipmgroup/YAV4WVV2YVGULPIFZOS5FXA4EU.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1)
This measure is intended to strike a balance between “public health” and “economic growth,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters before the decision was formalized by the Ministry of Health in a statement.
Spain, faced like the whole world with the surge of the Omircon variant, becomes one of the first countries to reduce the duration of the quarantine of those infected after the United States on Monday.
The Spanish authorities had already recommended on December 21 to no longer impose a quarantine on fully vaccinated people who have been in close contact with people infected with the Omicron variant, but simply to limit their contact.
Non-vaccinated contact cases, on the other hand, should always observe quarantine, also reduced on Wednesday from 10 to 7 days.
Also with a view to limiting work stoppages, the Madrid city hall has decided that some of its officials could work despite a positive test if their viral load, and therefore their contagiousness, is low enough.
Spain smashed its record on Tuesday with 99,671 cases recorded in 24 hours. The previous wave of daily records dated from mid-January and was nearly 40,000 cases in 24 hours.
The country recorded an incidence of 1,360 cases per 100,000 inhabitants on Tuesday in 14 days.
The United States decided on Monday to halve the duration of the quarantine of people infected with Covid-19, and asymptomatic, in order to curb the disruptions, especially in the aviation sector.
The duration of isolation has been reduced from ten to five days for asymptomatic people and from 14 to five for unvaccinated contact cases.
Argentina is also taking the plunge
Argentina, after the United States on Monday, then Spain, also announced on Wednesday a reduction in the quarantine for people positive for Covid, from 10 to 7 days, in an attempt to minimize the impact on economic activity faced with an outbreak of cases in recent days against the background of the presence of the Omicron variant.
Health Minister Carla Vizzotti announced at a press conference that the quarantine period would be reduced from 10 to 7 days for people positive with the complete vaccination schedule, and to five days for asymptomatic contact cases, but vaccinated.
The duration will remain ten days for those who have not received the two doses, including for contact cases.
“The current concern (…) in countries with vaccination coverage like ours, with the Omicron variant which is more transmissible but less lethal, is not so much (the pressure on) the health system, as it is ‘was the case before, but an economic impact linked to the isolation, “said the minister.
–
