A meeting of the Public Health Commission, formed by the Ministry of Health and the general directors of Public Health of the autonomous communities, has unanimously agreed at noon this Wednesday to shorten the isolation time for cases from 10 to 7 days. Covid positives should be saved if they are asymptomatic or develop a mild covid picture. The seven-day period begins to count from the onset of symptoms or, in the case of asymptomatic patients, from the positive result, although details are still missing, for example, whether a negative test will be necessary to terminate the isolation .
The measure will come into force imminently, waiting for the protocols to be adapted in the coming hours, as reported by Health sources.
According to data from the Ministry, more than 500,000 people have tested positive in Spain in the last 10 days and, therefore, are isolated at the moment.
The meeting was called in an extraordinary way at 1.30 pm this noon, it was held at two in the afternoon and ended shortly before four.
The Commission, which did not plan to meet until next week, has also decided to reduce the quarantine that unvaccinated close contacts of positive cases must keep from 10 to 7 days (those vaccinated must no longer quarantine since last week).
This decision does not wait for the request of the Alert Report, in which the experts had requested one more week of time to analyze the scarce existing data on the transmission dynamics of the omicron variant in a meeting this Wednesday. "There is no data yet to make a decision" and "more solid evidence" is necessary, sources close to the technicians' meeting had stated this morning.
The decision of the Public Health Commission has been precipitated in the last hours, after yesterday several communities were in favor of raising the measure in the Interterritorial Health Council that will be held on Wednesday afternoon with the assistance of the minister , Carolina Darias, and the Health Councilors. These types of decisions are not taken in the Council, but in the Commission, which is why the meeting has been called at the last minute. Although it usually follows the requests of the experts, these are not binding on the Commission, as has been the case today.
Spain thus follows the path set by countries such as the United Kingdom, which last week also agreed to shorten the isolation from 10 to 7 days, or the United States.
In the latter case, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommended this Tuesday to reduce the isolation from 10 to 5 five days.