DOH to push for 5-day quarantine for asymptomatic, fully vaxxed individuals

The Department of Health on Tuesday said it will propose to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) a shortened quarantine period of five days for individuals who will test positive for COVID-19 but are fully vaccinated and asymptomatic.

During a Malacañang briefing, DOH Undersecretary and treatment czar Leopoldo Vega said that amid the threat of the Omicron variant, the department will ask the IATF to expand the shortening of isolation to those who have completed their primary vaccine doses and tested positive for COVID-19 but does not experience any symptoms, just like for the healthcare workers.

“Ang gagawin namin at ipo-propose na din ng DOH ay i-streamline natin ‘to sa (what we will do and propose in DOH is to streamline this to the) general public to harmonize the isolation and quarantine protocols,” he said.

The IATF on Friday approved a shortened isolation and quarantine period for fully vaccinated health workers infected with or exposed to COVID-19 to five days.

This was decided after hospitals raised concerns about being short staffed amid rising COVID-19 infections.

Vega backed the IATF resolution, saying that it has basis and has peer-reviewed data coming from the United States and Europe.

He noted that 93% of the healthcare workers are already vaccinated and that in a way, they are “protected against the virus, especially the Omicron, for hospitalization and even death.”

He explained that if people are fully vaccinated, the viral load is “very low” especially if they are asymptomatic and could thus no longer transmit the virus to others by the fifth day.

“Ito ‘yung talagang dahilan kung bakit inuna natin ang healthcare workers kasi madali silang ma-monitor ng kanilang infection and control committee diyan sa hospitals,” he added.

(This is really the reason we prioritized the healthcare workers because they could be easily monitored by the infection and control committee in hospitals.)

The Philippine General Hospital said that almost 400 of its healthcare workers have tested positive for COVID-19, with 86 new cases on Sunday night.

The Philippines' COVID-19 case count surpassed three million on Tuesday as the DOH reported 28,007 new infections, bringing the country's tally to 3,026,473.—LDF, GMA News