The Ministry of Health and Medi­cal Services has re­duced the COVD-19 isola­tion period from 10 days to seven days.

Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services Dr James Fong con­firmed this yesterday.

This means a person testing positive can stop isolating if seven days have passed since the start of symptoms or since the positive test (for asymptomatic cases).

And a positive symptomatic patient could also stop isolating when symptoms have improved, and at least 24 hours have passed since the person had a fever (with­out the need to take fever-reducing medi­cations like paracetamol).

“If you are not experiencing severe symptoms, there is no testing required at the end of the seven-day self-isolation,” Dr Fong said.

Close contacts

Dr Fong said close contacts of cases were no longer required to isolate unless they develop symptoms.

Contacts of cases do not need to be self-isolated, but they should monitor them­selves for symptoms and self-isolate if symptoms present.

Tourism Fiji

Tourists coming into Fiji will also need to isolate for seven days if they test posi­tive for COVID-19.

Science behind reduction

This reduction on the isolation period for positive patients follows recommen­dation from studies carried out by the United States’ Centre for Disease Con­trol and Prevention (CDC) on January 4. It recommends shorter isolation (for asymptomatic and mildly ill people) and quarantine periods of 5 days to focus on the period when a person is most infec­tious.

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