Tue, Apr 26, 2022 page1

• CECC implements ‘3+4’ isolation policy

  REPRIEVE: People who have been in home isolation for more than three days and who test negative can be released from isolation tomorrow, Chen Shih-chung said

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  Home isolation for close contacts of COVID-19 cases is to be reduced to three days of isolation, followed by a four-day “self-disease prevention” period, starting today, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday, adding that a simplified contact tracing method would take effect immediately.

  The CECC also reported 5,108 domestic infections and 113 imported cases yesterday.

  Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said a meeting with all local government heads and health officials was held yesterday morning, and their ideas were discussed by a specialist advisory panel in the afternoon.

  

  Protesters wave placards outside the entrance to Taipei City Hall yesterday as Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, front left, passes through a COVID-19 sanitation checkpoint.

  Photo: CNA

  The advisory panel agreed that contact tracing would be simplified to only identifying “key close contacts,” and that home isolation time for close contacts would be reduced to a “3+4” policy, he said.

  Confirmed cases would be required to proactively report their key close contacts — people living in the same household, classmates or coworkers — in the previous two days, Chen said.

  In addition to reporting people living in the same household to the local health department, the confirmed case should also inform the disease prevention manager at their school or workplace, and the manager must submit a list of key close contacts, he said, adding that the health department would issue digital home isolation notifications.

  

  A graph published yesterday by the CECC describes the center’s new “home isolation 3+4” policy for those under quarantine. The policy requires three days of isolation at home, followed by four days of “self-disease prevention” during which time going out for work and errands is permitted, but not attendance at school, restaurants or large-scale activities.

  Photo courtesy of CECC

  The “3+4” policy includes a three-day “home isolation” period on a “one person per room” basis, Chen said.

  The key close contact should conduct a rapid test on the third day, he said.

  The key close contact must then adhere to a four-day “self-disease prevention” period, in which they are allowed to go out with certain restrictions if they have tested negative that day, Chen said, adding that they can go to work, buy daily necessities and take public transport, but they would be banned from dining at restaurants, attending gatherings, or visiting crowded places or places where they would have contact with strangers, while visiting a school should be avoided.

  If the key close contact tests positive during the “3+4” days, they must wear a mask and visit a polymerase chain reaction testing station without taking public transport to confirm the infection, he said.

  People who have been in isolation for more than three days and who test negative can be released from isolation tomorrow, he added.

  However, the 10-day home quarantine followed by seven days of self-health management for inbound travelers would remain unchanged, but would be gradually eased, Chen said.

  Locations where confirmed cases have visited before being diagnosed would no longer be publicized unless there are special reasons for a local government or the CECC to do so, he said.

  Overseas studies have shown that the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has an incubation period of 2.9 to 3.1 days, while data from infections in Taiwan showed that only about 45 percent of infected individuals would be detected on their first day of isolation, Chen said.

  A Japanese study showed that 8.55 percent of infected close contacts were detected on the first day after exposure to an infected person, 30 percent on the second day, 53 percent on the third day and 70.9 percent on the fourth day, Chen said.

  Therefore, about 70.9 percent of the infected close contacts would be detected on the first day of the “self-disease prevention” period and about 80 percent would be detected on the second day, he said.

  Among the 5,108 domestic infections reported yesterday, 15 new moderate cases and a severe case were confirmed, the CECC said.

  Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said the severe case is a man in his 80s who has kidney and nervous system diseases, and experienced pneumonia and respiratory distress after he was infected with COVID-19.

  Two of the moderate cases are people in their 20s, including one with chronic hypertension who did not receive a COVID-19 vaccine, he said.
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