Czech Republic reduces COVID-19 quarantine from 14 to 10 days for symptom-free patients

Prague, Aug 17 (CTK) – The quarantine of symptom-free COVID-19 patients, as well as the people they have come into contact with, will be cut in Czechia from 14 to ten days, and no COVID-19 test will be required for leaving quarantine or isolation, except for social care and medical staff and people with low immunity, Roman Prymula said today.

Prymula, the government commissioner for science and research in the health sector, was referring to the decision the Government Council for Health Risks made at its meeting this morning.

The new rules will take effect as of Monday, August 24.

“There is enough data in this respect from abroad,” Prymula said.

Those infected will stay in isolation for ten days following their last positive test, if they show symptoms of the disease.

Those who have come into contact with an infected person, who have no symptoms themselves, will stay in quarantine for ten days following their last contact with the infected person. Doctors and sanitary officers may prolong the quarantine in some cases.

“Quarantine should cover the maximum incubation period that is defined at 14 days. The average incubation lasts from four to six days, and it exceeds ten days very rarely,” Prymula said.

The longest ever recorded incubation period is 27 days, but the infectiousness of the virus declines with time. It is the strongest about two days before the symptoms appear. The risk of a patient remaining infectious after ten days is about 2 percent, Prymula said.