The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has announced that the isolation period for certain COVID-19 patients and close contact cases has been reduced to 10 days from the initial 14-day period. The shortened isolation period is applicable to COVID-19 patients who did not develop any symptoms since testing positive. The reduced isolation period also applies to patients with mild cases of COVID-19 who have fully recovered from their symptoms — without the use of fever-reducing medications. Individuals who have come in close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case but did not develop any symptoms should also abide by the new quarantine period of 10 days, starting from the day they were exposed to the confirmed case. As for patients who are hospitalized due to developing moderate, severe or critical COVID-19 symptoms, they can only be discharged when they have tested negative in a PCR test two consecutive times that are 24 hours (or more) apart. In this case, the patient should also be afebrile for more than three days without the use of fever-reducing medications. Additionally, the patient should also have improved minimal respiratory symptoms and their pulmonary imaging must show significant improvements. According to DHA, this category of patients should self-isolate for seven days after they are discharged. If symptoms appear again during the two-week period after discharge, they should revisit the clinic for a follow up. The DHA said that shortening the quarantine period is based on global research on COVID-19, which found that the majority of contact cases get infected within the first 10 days from last exposure. — WAM
