Quarantine and isolation period for COVID-19 infected reduced to 10 days

KATHMANDU, Dec 18: The Ministry of Health and Population has reduced the time for the COVID-19 infected persons' stay in quarantine or isolation.

Prior to this, the infected persons were required to stay in quarantine or isolation for 14 days. Now they need to stay in quarantine or isolation only for 10 days.

Joint spokesperson at the Ministry of Health, Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari said the period of stay in quarantine or isolation has been reduced after various studies showed that the infection is not transmitted from one person to another after 10 days.

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The Policy, Planning and Monitoring Division at the Ministry had decided that all the infected persons except those fallen sick after showing symptoms of infection and seriously ill people would be kept in quarantine or isolation only for 10 days.

Similarly, the Health Emergency Operation Centre has said those coming from foreign countries have to mandatorily stay in quarantine or isolation for 10 days. Centre chief and Joint Spokesperson Dr Adhikari said the Centre has, through a notice, stated that persons arriving in Nepal from abroad or those coming in contact with the infected persons have to compulsorily stay in quarantine or isolation for at least 10 days.  

The Division has urged all hospitals to update the health information management system only on the basis of 10 days' stay in quarantine or isolation.

Chief of the Division Dr Gunaraj Lohani said that the hospitals will be provided with the amount in compensation as per the updating of the health information system. He also shared that a provision has been made under which renewal or enlisting of hospitals done by the Ministry-Province-Local level would not be done if any hospital failed to update the admission and treatment of COVID-19 patients in the information system.

The ministry has also urged the hospitals not to charge any fees from patients against whom compensation amount has been demanded for providing free-of-cost treatment. It said the compensatory amount would not be provided to hospitals if they are found to have charged such patients extra fees.

So far 444 infected persons are in quarantine and 6,094 persons are in home isolation in Nepal. Similarly, 251,692 people have been infected, 240,363 have recovered and 1,749 persons have died of the infection so far.